Study: Smoking ban cut heart attacks

Here's a stat you may want to consider if your facility is mulling no-smoking rules. A new study by New York state health officials suggests that a 2003 ban on smoking in many public places cut the rate of hospital admissions for heart attacks during the very next year. 

The research, which was published in the American Journal of Public Health, concluded that the state saw almost 4,000 fewer hospital admissions for heart attacks in 2004 than would have been otherwise expected. To draw this conclusion, researchers looked at about one-half million hospital admissions for acute myocardial infarction taking place from 1994 to 2004, drawn from all of the state's 62 counties. They then developed a statistical model which screened out complicating factors contributing to heart attack rates in the state.

To find out more about the research:
- read this piece from The New York Times

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