Heart Attack Rates Drop After City Bans Indoor Smoking

Hospital admissions for heart attacks in Pueblo, Colo. have reduced significantly three years after the city banned smoking in most indoor places, according to a study released this week from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study found there were 399 hospital admissions for heart attacks in Pueblo in the 18 months before the city's smoke-free ordinance took effect on July 1, 2003, compared to 237 heart attack hospitalizations in the similar period from 18 months to three years after this date, a CDC press release states.

The CDC said indoor smoking bans affect heart attack rates because they limit the amount of second-hand smoke non-smokers are exposed to and they reduce smoking altogether.

"This study adds to existing evidence that smoke-free policies can dramatically reduce illness and death from heart disease," Janet Collins, director of CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, said in a statement.

The CDC says long-term exposure to second-hand smoke is associated with a 25-percent to 30-percent increased risk of heart disease in adult non-smokers. The agency says it estimates second-hand smoke exposure causes an estimated 46,000 heart disease deaths a year in non-smokers.