City Has a Lot Fewer Heart Attacks After Smoking Ban

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The above headline comes from a January 6, 2009 online Voice of America article. A similar story also appeared online December 31, 2008 on the Intelihealth website. These stories are based on a CDC (US Centers for Disease and Control) report released on December 31, 2008 quoting a study that looked at the results of a smoking ban in the city of Pueblo, Colorado. The CDC release on the study started off by noting, "Heart attack hospitalizations in the city of Pueblo, Colorado fell sharply after the implementation of a municipal law making workplaces and public places smoke-free."

This study looked at the number of hospital admissions for a period of 18 months before a smoking ban as compared to a period 18 months after the smoking ban went into effect. The results showed that there were 399 hospital admissions for heart attacks in Pueblo in the 18 months before the city?s smoke-free ordinance took effect on July 1, 2003, compared to 237 heart attack hospitalizations in the similar period from 18 months to three years after this date, a decline of 41 percent.

Surrounding areas that had not had a smoking ban did not see any change in the rate of hospital admissions for heart attacks thus strengthening the findings of the ban in Pueblo.

Janet Collins, Ph.D., director of CDC?s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion commented, "We know that exposure to secondhand smoke has immediate harmful effects on people's cardiovascular systems, and that prolonged exposure to it can cause heart disease in nonsmoking adults. This study adds to existing evidence that smoke-free policies can dramatically reduce illness and death from heart disease."

The CDCs release also noted that long-term exposure to secondhand smoke is associated with a 25 percent to 30 percent increased risk of heart disease in adult nonsmokers. Secondhand smoke exposure causes an estimated 46,000 heart disease deaths each year among U.S. nonsmokers.

Dr. Michael Thun, a researcher with the American Cancer Society who was not involved with the original study added his comments in the Intelihealth article, "This study is very dramatic. This is now the ninth study, so it is clear that smoke-free laws are one of the most effective and cost-effective ways to reduce heart attacks."


 

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