Smoking Bans Reduce Rate of Heart Attacks

Boston (DbTechNo) – Results of a pair of new studies indicate that the rate of heart attacks is decreasing in areas where smoking bans are enforced.

This study finding is not surprising, as smoking, or inhaling second hand smoke puts us at a considerable risk of heart attacks.

When we breathe in smoke, numerous bad things happen to our bodies, including the hardening of our arteries, decrease in good cholesterol levels, and heightened risk of abnormal heart rhythms.

Governments from around the world are finally taking action and initiating smoking bans in public places to reduce the risk of a nonsmoker breathing in toxic fumes from cigarettes.

Results of 2 studies suggest that smoking bans put in place in parts of Europe and North America have reduced heart attack rates by up to 1 third.

For the studies, researchers pooled data from previous studies comparing the rate of heart attacks in smokers, to the rate of heart attacks in areas where bans where put into place.

“The beneficial effect of smoking bans seems to be rapid, with declines in [heart attacks] within three months,” stated the leader of one of the studies, David G. Meyers, MD, MPH, of the University of Kansas.

The first study appears in the Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, the second appears in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

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