Nationwide Smoking Ban Could Significantly Reduce Number of Heart Attacks
After analyzing data from the 13 U.S. states that don’t have a law banning smoking in public places, researchers came to the conclusion that banning smoking in all 50 states would significantly lower the amount of hospitalizations for heart attacks.
The Henry Ford Hospital study found after the first year of a nationwide smoking ban, there would be at least 18,596 fewer heart attacks, and more than $92 million in hospital costs would be saved.
The study, funded by the hospital, is being presented at the American Heart Association's annual Quality of Care and Outcomes Research conference in Washington.
"Even if you just save one heart attack, it is something significant," says Mouaz Al-Mallah, M.D., lead author of the study and Henry Ford's co-director of Cardiac Imaging Research. "When people smoke, they are not only harming themselves, they're harming those around them who are exposed to secondhand smoke."
A similar study conducted in 2008 by Dr. Al-Mallah found that a smoking ban in Michigan could lead to a 12 percent drop in heart attack admissions after the first year of implementation. On May 1, Michigan became the 38th state to ban smoking in public places.
Prior research involving risk reduction from smoking bans has shown that heart attack rates can be reduced by 11 percent after a comprehensive smoking ban.
Henry Ford obtained 2007 data on the number of heart attack discharges, length of stay, and hospital charges from the 13 states currently without a public smoking ban. Researchers found 169,043 hospitalizations for heart attack were reported in the states with a comprehensive smoking ban. When the same 11 percent risk reduction was applied to the non-smoking states, researchers concluded it would led to 18,596 fewer heart attack admissions.
