Smoking ban 'reduced the number of heart attacks'
Wednesday 9th June 2010
A reduction in the number of people in England needing assistance from cardiac physiologists because they suffered a heart attack has occurred since the implementation of the smoking ban.
This is according to a team of researchers from the University of Bath's Tobacco Control Research Group, who recorded a 2.4 per cent fall in emergency admissions to hospital for heart failure in the wake of the legislation.
The study was funded by the Department of Health - which has responsibility for standards of health care in the country, including the NHS - and it was published in the British Medical Journal.
First author of the paper Dr Michelle Sims said: "This implies that just over 1,200 emergency admissions for myocardial infarction were prevented over a 12-month period."
Meanwhile, leader of the project Dr Anna Gilmore noted that because of the large number of heart attacks in this country each year, even a small reduction can have a significant impact on public health.
Written by Alex Franklin Stortford
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