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Smoking Bans May Cut Down on Heart Attacks |
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MONDAY, April 5 (HealthDayNews) -- A public smoking ban may reduce the number of heart attacks in a community, says a study in the April 5 online issue of the British Medical Journal.
The study was conducted in the small American community of Helena, Montana, which enacted a ban on smoking in public and in workplaces. The ban, in effect from June to November 2002, was overturned by opponents in December 2002.
During the six months of the smoking ban, the number of heart attack patients from Helena admitted each month to the local hospital fell by about 40 percent. There was no significant decline in heart attack admissions for people living outside Helena during that period.
This is the first study to report an association between a public smoking ban and a decline in heart attacks. Further research is needed to confirm the findings, the study authors noted.
However, they added the findings suggest that smoking bans not only protect people from the dangers of secondhand smoke, they may also be associated with a rapid decrease in heart attacks.
More information
The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more about the dangers of secondhand smoke.
(SOURCE: British Medical Journal, news release, April 5, 2004)
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