Smoke-free laws reduce hospitalisations and deaths

Smoke-free laws reduce hospitalisations and deaths

    Laws that prohibit smoking at work and other public places result in significantly fewer hospitalisations for heart attacks, strokes, asthma and other respiratory conditions, a new study has found. The research provides evidence that smoke-free laws that cover workplaces, restaurants and bars have the biggest impacts on hospitalisations, reduce health care costs and also raise quality of life.
    In the latest study, scientists examined the relationship between legislated smoking bans and hospital admissions or death from cardiac, cerebrovascular and respiratory diseases. The inquiry consisted of a meta-analysis of 45 studies. Altogether, the research covered 33 different smokefree-laws in cities and states around the United States as well as several countries, including New Zealand and Germany. The laws variously prohibit smoking in such public spots as restaurants, bars, and the workplace.
    The authors found that comprehensive smoke-free laws were followed rapidly by significantly lower rates of hospital admissions than before the laws went into force — a 15% drop in heart attack hospitalisations; a 16% drop in stroke hospitalisations, a 24% drop in hospitalisations for respiratory diseases including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Laws that were more comprehensive in scope — that included restaurants and bars as well as workplaces — were followed by larger changes in risk, the researchers said. Moreover, the decrease in hospitalisations applied similarly to women and to men. They noted several studies that showed an additional benefit: lower health care costs connected to smoking-related illnesses. “Smoke-free legislation reduces exposure of non-smokers to secondhand smoke and creates an environment that helps smokers cut down or quit smoking,” the researchers said.
ANI