Smoking Bans Cut Hospital Admissions for Children's Asthma

A public smoking ban implemented in Scotland in 2006 reduced hospital admissions for children's severe asthma attacks by 18 percent a year, according to a new Scottish study, HealthDay News reported Sept. 15.

Daniel MacKay, Ph.D., of the University of Glasgow, and colleagues examined the rate at which Scottish children under 15 were admitted to hospitals for asthma attacks between January 2000 and October 2009, before and after Scotland instituted a comprehensive ban on public smoking. 

The researchers found that the hospital admission rates were rising by about 5 percent a year prior to the 2006 ban. After the ban went into effect, the rates fell an average of 18 percent annually.

According to the Associated Press (AP), other studies performed in the United States obtained similar results, but the Scottish study was the largest of its kind. Public smoking bans can lead adults to quit smoking or cut back smoking at home, said Jill Pell, a study author. 

The study, “Smoke-free Legislation and Hospitalizations for Childhood Asthma,” was published online on Sept. 16, 2010, in The New England Journal of Medicine.