CLEAN INDOOR AIR NEWS - Heart Attacks Decrease for Non-Smokers Following Smokefree Workplace Law

November 26, 2007

A study by Indiana University has found that hospital admissions for heart attacks decreased by 59 percent among non-smokers in Monroe County, Indiana following the enactment of a countywide smokefree workplace law.  There was not a similar decline in hospital admissions for heart attacks among smokers.  The study collected data 22 months prior to enactment of the law as well as 22 months afterward, and it tracked heart attack admissions in Monroe County as well as a control county without a smokefree workplace law.  The Indiana University study is different from previous studies of heart attack admissions before and after smokefree laws, because it is the first to examine the effect on nonsmokers, as opposed to the general population.  "Heart attack admissions for smokers saw no similar decline during the study, so the benefits of the ban appear to come more from the reduced exposure to second-hand smoke among non-smokers than from reduced consumption of tobacco among smokers," said lead author Dr. Dong-Chul Seo, Ph.D.

For the full press release from Indiana University, click here.

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