18,000 Fewer Heart Attacks Expected If All States Banned Indoor Smoking

Literally thousands of lives could be saved within one year if all states adopted bans on indoor public smoking — laws still lacking in about a dozen states — according to researcher Mouaz Al-Mallah of Henry Ford Hospital.

HealthDay News reported May 20 that Al-Mallah and colleagues studied data from 13 states that don’t currently have indoor-smoking bans and estimated that hospital admissions for heart attacks would drop 11 percent if such laws were adopted and exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke was reduced. That translates into more than 18,500 fewer heart attacks and a savings of $92 million in hospital costs, Al-Mallah said.

The findings were presented last week at the American Heart Association’s annual Quality of Care and Outcomes Research conference.