Monday, November 14, 2005 · Last updated 7:56 p.m. PT
Study: Heart attacks drop with smoking ban
DALLAS -- Heart attack rates in Pueblo, Colorado, dropped by 27 percent in the 18 months after a smoking ban was imposed in bars, restaurants and other public places, according to a new study.
Researchers found that 399 heart attack patients were admitted to hospitals in the 18 months before the July 2003 ban and 291 after.
In a nearby county without a smoking ban, the number of heart attacks held steady during the same period, according to the research presented Monday at an American Heart Association meeting.
"I was probably skeptical that such an ordinance would have such a rapid effect," said the study's leader, Dr. Mori Krantz, a cardiologist and director of prevention programs at the Colorado Prevention Center.
But he noted that other research has shown that exposure to secondhand smoke can cause adverse cardiovascular effects within minutes - and that the latest survey seems to bear that out.
Dr. Donald Lavan, a cardiologist at the University of Pennsylvania and a heart association spokesman, called the study preliminary but important.
"We know that when people stop smoking, we start to see improvements in six months for the individual," but this study shows the benefit to the community as well, he said.
"It reaffirms the fact that secondhand smoke is deleterious to all people," Lavan said.
In 2003, the city of Helena, Mont., found that during the six months an indoor smoking ban was enforced, hospital admissions for heart attacks dropped from seven a month to about three.
Pueblo, which has a population of about 100,000, is about 110 miles south of Denver.