Smoking Bans Cut Heart Attacks

Implementing smoke-free policies can lead to fewer hospitalizations resulting from heart attacks, according to a new study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Researchers studied the impact of smoke-free ordinances implemented in Pueblo, Colorado, in July 2003. They compared the number of hospitalizations for heart attacks 18 months before the policy went into effect and three years after implementation. – From cnn.com

Three years after Pueblo, Colo., passed a law banning smoking in private workplaces and public places, heart attacks among city residents fell by an impressive 41%. The study in today’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, published by the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is the 10th to associate no-smoking laws with reductions in heart attack rates. But unlike previous studies, it examined the health effects of the ordinance beyond the first year of implementation. Not only were the health improvements sustained, heart attack rates dropped even more after three years than after one. – From LA Times

Hospitalizations for heart attacks fell sharply in Pueblo, Colo., after the implementation of a law that banned smoking in public places and workplaces, according to the January 2 issue of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. There were 399 heart attack hospitalizations in the city in the 18 months before the smoke-free law went into effect on July 1, 2003, compared with 237 hospitalizations for heart attacks in the 18-month period that began a year and a half after the law went into effect. Researchers also studied two nearby areas that do not have indoor smoking bans and found that there was no significant decline in hospitalizations for heart attacks during the same time periods in those areas, the CDC reports. – From US News & World Report