Smoking Ban Leads To Big Drop In Heart Attacks

[Warpy]

ATLANTA (AP) — A smoking ban in one Colorado city led to a dramatic drop in heart attack hospitalizations within three years, a sign of just how serious a health threat secondhand smoke is, government researchers said Wednesday. The study, the longest-running of its kind, showed the rate of hospitalized cases dropped 41 percent in the three years after the ban of workplace smoking in Pueblo, Colo., took effect. There was no such drop in two neighboring areas, and researchers believe it's a clear sign the ban was responsible.

The study suggests that secondhand smoke may be a terrible and under-recognized cause of heart attack deaths in this country, said one of its authors, Terry Pechacek of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

At least eight earlier studies have linked smoking bans to decreased heart attacks, but none ran as long as three years. The new study looked at heart attack hospitalizations for three years following the July 1, 2003 enactment of Pueblo's ban, and found declines as great or greater than those in earlier research.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5isVjqLbvrd8KOzD5ti4kFqnze4GgD95DSUMG0

[snappyturtle]

1. Dupe.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3666559

[naaman fletcher]

2. I fnid this very hard to believe..

I think 2nd hand smoke is dangerous, but there was NO science that suggested it was so bad that eliminating it would cause a 1/3rd drop in heart attacks in a city.. not even CLOSE. I hope this is true.. but it sounds phoney on the surface.

[Warpy]

3. What makes this study significant

is the fact that Pueblo, as a western city, is a more isolated population than you'd find on either coast. The data don't reflect a transient population or one that goes five miles down the road to a different city and different hospital.

The researchers were astonished by the drop, although they did expect the results would follow the earlier, more limited studies that suggested a drop of a few percent.

If this study is repeated and confirmed in another relatively isolated population, then the final case for the dangers of ambient tobacco smoke will have been made.

[Ocracoker16]

4. hard to believe

Second hand smoke is very dangerous, but I suspect that this study is overestimating the effect. They used limited data which didn't indicate whether each patient smoked. If there were a lot of smokers in the group then that would mean that reduction of second hand smoke could have caused a smaller decline in heart attack hospitalizations.

[mopinko]

5. i wonder if what they are seeing is a lot of people quitting smoking.

i suspect that a smoke-free workplace leads to a lot of people kicking the habit.

[CarolT]

6. It's All a Lie

It's all a lie. The death rates from AMI in Pueblo actually ROSE the year after the smoking ban. Those anti-smoker frauds only claimed that the rates of HOSPITALIZATION for AMI declined, and they could create a false impression of a decline merely by being too free with admissions (and raking in extra money for it) beforehand, and then magically reduce the admission rate by tightening up the policy.

http://www.smokershistory.com/etsheart.html#Pueblo

[Orrex]

7. Smoking is absolutely great for you; it causes minty-fresh breath and a bright smile