November 18, 2003 – The number of heart attacks fell 60% in less than six months when the city of Helena, in the US state of Montana, imposed a smoking ban on all public buildings in the city.
Researchers compared the number of heart attacks treated at St. Peter’s Community Hospital, the only major hospital serving the city of 65,000 people, before and during the ban. During the six months that the ban lasted (between June and December 2002) before it was made illegal by a court decision, the average number of heart attacks fell from 6.8 to 3 per month, a reduction by 60%.
The data from the city of Helena experience is interesting, but still needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Thus, researchers automatically attribute the reduction in the number of heart attacks to reduced exposure to second-hand smoke (which, logically, would primarily benefit non-smokers). However, it is also questionable how many smokers would have suffered a heart attack if they had been able to smoke to their liking.
Second-hand smoke is responsible for 240,000 heart attacks and 60,000 deaths each year in the United States. These same data are not available for Canada.
Since the ban was lifted, the number of heart attacks is said to be on the rise again in Helena.
Jean-Benoit Legault – PasseportSanté.net
According to Prevention; December 2003.
