Smoking Bans Cut MI Rate

Indoor smoking bans substantially cut heart attack rates in communities and may have an impact on sudden cardiac death as well, a population-based study showed.

Myocardial infarction (MI) incidence dropped 33% after implementation of ordinances banning smoking in restaurants and the workplace, Richard D. Hurt, MD, of the Nicotine Dependence Center at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and colleagues found.

Sudden cardiac death incidence declined by 17% in Olmsted County - where Mayo Clinic is located - with the laws, though not statistically significant at P=0.13 with the relatively low number of events, the group reported online in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Other than the expected decline in smoking prevalence from making it less convenient, cardiovascular risk factors remained largely stable in the population there, supporting an effect of the bans themselves, they pointed out.

"Exposure to second-hand smoke should be considered a modifiable risk factor for MI," they wrote. "All people should avoid second-hand smoke exposure as much as possible, and those with coronary heart disease should have no exposure to second-hand smoke."

These additional data supporting smoke-free policies should encourage more locales to adopt them, Hurt and colleagues added.

"Second-hand smoke does matter, and the results of this study will help us to be able to move forward with policies and guidelines to be able to minimize second-hand smoke," Lauren Whitt, PhD, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, agreed in an interview with MedPage Today.

About how acute is the Heart Attack problem we can see analyzing actual stats on this disease. Below is a list of statistics from United States and worldwide which speak about the necessity to take action. 1.5 million Heart attacks occur in the United States each year with 500,000 deaths. More than 233,000 women die annually from cardiovascular disease. A heart attack occurs about every 20 seconds with a heart attack death about every minute. Almost 14 million Americans have a history of heart attack or angina. About 50% of deaths occur within one hour of the heart attack - outside a hospital. There is a 6% to 9% early mortality from heart attack for those who survive long enough to reach the hospital. Studies show the most common time for a heart attack to occur is Monday morning. Saturday morning ranks second. Another common time is during the early morning hours, when blood platelets are stickier. Chewing an uncoated aspirin right away, at the first sign of chest discomfort or distress, can reduce the amount of damage to the heart muscle during a heart attack. Costs related to heart attack exceed 60 billion dollars per year. Heart attack is a leading killer of both men and women in the United States. Every 20 seconds one American suffers a Heart attack More than 1000000 (1 million) Americans support a heart attack each year More than 2 hours takes to a patient in most of cases to ask for medical attention. Sometimes, this is too long and irreversible heart muscle damages appear in myocardium A big part of those suffering Heart Attacks survive and can continue their activities.