According to research conducted by the Mayo Clinic, a smoke-free workplace can reduce the numbers of heart attacks.
In fact, the research follows the number of heart attacks and sudden cardiac deaths among Olmsted County, Minn. Once a smoke-free ordinance was passed, incidences of heart attacks and sudden cardiac deaths were cut in half, and adult smoking fell 23 percent during the same time frame. The rates for other risk factors, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and obesity, remained stable or grew.
"This study adds to the observation that smoke-free workplace laws help reduce the chances of having a heart attack, but for the first time, we report these laws also reduce the chances of sudden cardiac death," says Richard Hurt, M.D., director of Mayo Clinic's Nicotine Dependence Center. "The study shows that everyone, especially people with known coronary artery disease, should avoid contact with secondhand smoke. They should have no — literally no — exposure to secondhand smoke because it is too dangerous to their health."
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The study also finds that over the course of 18 months before Olmsted County's first smoke-free law for restaurants was passed in 2002, the regional number of heart attacks was 212.3 cases for every 100,000 residents. During the 18 months after a comprehensive smoke-free ordinance was passed in 2007, which required restaurants and workplaces become smoke-free, the rate fell to 102.9 per 100,000 residents for a decline of about 45 percent. The number of sudden cardiac deaths during these two timeframes dropped by 50 percent from 152.5 to 76.6 per 100,000 residents.
"Our findings provide support to the life-saving effect that smoke-free legislation can have among community members affected by these laws," says co-author Jon Ebbert, M.D., associate director of Mayo Clinic's Nicotine Dependence Center.
Ivana Croghan, Ph.D.; Darrell Schroeder; Susan Weston; and Sheila M. McNallan are the other co-authors of the study.
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