Smoking Bans Mean Fewer Heart Attacks

More countries are beginning to ban smoking within certain types of buildings. There was a lot of resistance to smoking bans, particularly from bar and pub owners who felt they would be losing business if their patrons wouldn’t be allowed to smoke. While it may be true that some businesses suffered, others did well because non-smokers now could come in and be comfortable.

But do the bans affect health? Are people healthier because their access to smoking may be less than it was before. According to researchers, yes.

In a study, published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, North American and European communities that had such bans had a 17% drop in heart attacks within the first year of the ban and a 36% drop after three years.

An interesting finding from this study was that it wasn’t just the smokers who were affected, it was the nonsmokers who would otherwise have been exposed to second-hand smoke. Nonsmokers who have this exposure have a 25% to 30% higher risk of developing heart disease than those nonsmokers who aren’t exposed.

Makes you wonder why it’s so hard to convince some people about the dangers of smoking.

~~~~

Image: StockXchng.com