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In one of the most important public health research studies published in 2008, the Centers for Disease Control published an update of the Pueblo Heart Study on December 30th. This epidemiological study was performed, prospectively, over a 3-year period between 2002 and 2004 in Pueblo, Colorado. During the second half of this study, Pueblo enacted stringent legislation to eliminate smoking in public places. The incidence of admissions to hospitals for heart attack in the Pueblo area were monitored throughout the course of this study, both before and after the smoking ban was initiated. . . .
There are a couple of factors that make this public health study so powerful, including its prospective design, and the fact that the entire population of the Pueblo area was assessed for changes in the incidence of heart attack following the implementation of a new ban on smoking in public places. Also, the heart attack admission rates for two adjacent communities without public smoking bans, including the much larger Colorado Springs area, added an important set of controls that have not been included in similar previous studies. . . .
The updated data from this study reveals a striking cumulative reduction in the number of hospital admissions for heart attacks. When compared to the number of heart attack admissions that occurred prior to the enactment of the public smoking ban, there was an incredible 41 percent reduction in such admissions noted during the additional 18 months of follow-up data. Thus, within 3 years of implementing a public smoking ban, the number of heart attacks in Pueblo dropped, amazingly enough, by nearly one-half. At the same time, similar data collected from two surrounding communities without a public smoking ban showed no significant changes in heart attack admissions during the same timeframe.
I should note that, while this study did not separate smokers from nonsmokers, previous studies have shown that susceptible nonsmokers appear to be at an especially high risk of experiencing heart attacks due to exposure to secondhand smoke. . . .
Based upon more than five decades of scientific data linking tobacco smoke with cancer, chronic lung disease, and cardiovascular disease, it still amazes me that there are so many communities that still permit smoking in public places, or that have enacted hopelessly anemic limitations on the ability of smokers to subject the 80 percent of the U.S. population that does not smoke to highly toxic secondhand tobacco smoke. An estimated 500,000 people die every year in the United States, alone, from completely preventable tobacco-associated diseases. This updated data from the Pueblo Heart Study should galvanize public health advocates and agencies, and government leaders, to better protect the public from unwanted exposure to tobacco smoke.
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A new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention draws the strongest link ever between smoking bans and overall public health.
The study focused on the city of Pueblo, Colo., and heart attack rates in that city over three years following the 2002 adoption of a workplace smoking prohibition. . . .
The growing body of evidence that tobacco bans save lives simply cannot be ignored.
That was part of what drove Weston to adopt its ban last month. And it should be the argument that drives other central Wisconsin municipalities and the state to pass bans.
This isn't about property rights. It isn't about eating your fish fry without someone exhaling a cloud of smoke in your face.
New evidence suggests that heart attacks will be in sharp decline in Colorado in 2009 thanks to the statewide smoking ban enacted two and a half years ago.
A study out of Pueblo, endorsed by the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that hospitalizations for heart attacks continue to plunge there, five years after the city enacted its ban in 2003.
Like Pueblo, in 2003, Greeley banned smoking in restaurants, bars, businesses and other places where people gather.
Several cities, including Greeley, found that heart attacks went down in the 18 months after a smoking ban began.
The number of heart attacks in Greeley, for example, dropped by 16 percent in Greeley, according to the University of Colorado Health Sciences study.
But the new study released Thursday looked at the next 18 months — a total of three years of data — in Pueblo
In the US city of Pueblo in the state of Colorado there has been a sharp drop in the number of hospital admissions for heart attacks following the introduction of a law that made it illegal to smoke in public spaces and workplaces. And the drop was steady for three years, said the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The CDC study, which is reported in this week's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), found there were 399 hospital admissions for heart attack in Pueblo over the 18 months preceding the introduction of the smoke-free ordinance on 1 July 2003. This figure fell by 27 per cent in the 18 months following the ban and then another 19 per cent in the next 18 months (the most recent period for which figures exist).
Whether or not the Pueblo results are borne out in other communities, the fact remains that workplace smoking bans do have a positive health impact -- both for the non-smokers who no longer have to face clouds of second-hand smoke and for the smokers who usually find themselves smoking less.
The best impact might be on the smokers who use the inconvenience of such bans as a springboard to quitting the habit altogether.
Last year, one of the few holdout restaurants that skirted Longview's 5-year-old workplace smoking ban by barring any customers younger than 18, decided to join the mainstream and clear the smokescreen. Manager Fran Triplett told the Longview News-Journal that business at the Waffle Shoppes of Texas (on Marshall Avenue at Spur 63) was booming after it remodeled and went smoke free last summer.
When Longview first debated a proposal to institute its workplace smoking ban, there was some vocal, often rancorous criticism of the city council's decision to make our city one of the pioneers in clearing the public air. Since then, however, much of the nation has followed suit and the majority of Americans are breathing healthier, less odorous air because of it.
We're sure that the East Texans who carry out their resolutions to quit smoking this year will be glad to join that crowd.
U.S. health experts say laws that bar smoking in public places appear to dramatically cut the number of heart attacks according to a recent study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Researchers studying a smoking ban in the western U.S. state of Colorado say a no smoking law in one city led to a 40 percent decrease in the number of residents hospitalized for heart attacks.
Dr. Terry Pechacek, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Office on Smoking and Health, says the study indicates that secondhand smoke may be an under-recognized cause of heart attack deaths.
"For too long we have considered exposure to secondhand smoke in restaurants, bars, and other places as typical and common, however, these data indicate that even brief exposure to secondhand smoke can produce rapid and adverse changes in the functioning of the heart and blood, and cause heart attacks," he said.
A study released today by the CDC Office on Smoking and Health found a significant and sustained drop in heart attack hospitalizations in Pueblo, Colorado, after the implementation of a workplace and public places smoke-free law. The study, released this week in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, found the decrease was sustained over a three-year period. This is the first study to look at the link between smoke-free laws and heart attack hospital admission rates over a three-year period of time.
Researchers also looked at nearby similar sized communities that had not passed smoke-free laws, and found no substantial decrease in heart attack hospitalizations in those communities over the same time period. The new study from Colorado adds to evidence from other communities and countries that smoke-free laws improve public health, that benefits can occur quickly, and that they are sustained over time.
The need for protection from secondhand smoke in all workplaces and public places has never been clearer. In issuing a groundbreaking report on secondhand smoke in June 2006, U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona stated, "The debate is over. The science is clear: Secondhand smoke is not a mere annoyance, but a serious health hazard that causes premature death and disease in children and nonsmoking adults."
Officials can now begin the months-long process of preparing to verify that all cigarettes sold in Colorado will meet new fire safety standards, under a state law taking effect today.
Come July 31, cigarette manufacturers must have certified that any cigarette sold in this state are less likely to continue burning when they're left unattended.
The goal of the law is to reduce the risk of fire deaths, injuries and property losses that can occur when smoldering cigarettes fall onto clothing, carpets, furniture or bedding, according to Kevin Klein, director of the Colorado Division of Fire Safety.
"I think it'll really help," Klein said.
Klein's agency will be helping enforce the testing and certification requirements for the more than 1,000 varieties of cigarettes sold in Colorado.
A smoking ban in one Colorado city led to a dramatic drop in heart attack hospitalizations within three years, a sign of just how serious a health threat secondhand smoke is, government researchers said Wednesday. The study, the longest-running of its kind, showed the rate of hospitalized cases dropped 41 percent in the three years after the ban of workplace smoking in Pueblo, Colo., took effect. There was no such drop in two neighboring areas, and researchers believe it's a clear sign the ban was responsible.
The study suggests that secondhand smoke may be a terrible and under-recognized cause of heart attack deaths in this country, said one of its authors, Terry Pechacek of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
At least eight earlier studies have linked smoking bans to decreased heart attacks, but none ran as long as three years. The new study looked at heart attack hospitalizations for three years following the July 1, 2003 enactment of Pueblo's ban, and found declines as great or greater than those in earlier research. . . .
The decline could have had more to do with a general decline in smoking in Pueblo County, from about 26 percent in 2002-2003 to less than 21 percent in 2004-2005. If there were stepped-up efforts to treat or prevent heart disease in the Pueblo area, that too could have played a role, said Dr. Michael Siegel
Several cities, including Pueblo, found that heart attacks went down in the 18 months after a smoking ban began. But the new study looked at the next 18 months - a total of three years of data - and found that:
* Hospitalizations for heart attacks fell another 19 percent from early 2004 to mid-2005, after dropping 27 percent in the first 18 months of the ban.
* Hospitalizations in Pueblo County - not including the city - and in neighboring El Paso County were tallied as a way of comparison. Those two counties, which did not have smoking bans at the time, did not show significant changes.
There is reason to believe - based on past studies - that the major benefactors are nonsmokers, those who breathed in secondhand smoke, say study author . . .
In an editorial in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, officials noted that following adoption of smoke-free laws, families tend to implement their own no-smoking rules, which further boosts overall health.
The editorial writers cautioned that there are limitations to the Pueblo study, including that it didn't differentiate between smokers and nonsmokers when gathering data.
The Pueblo Heart Study examined the impact of a municipal smoke-free ordinance in the city of Pueblo, Colorado, that took effect on July 1, 2003 (3). The rate of AMI hospitalizations for city residents decreased 27%, from 257 per 100,000 person-years during the 18 months before the ordinance's implementation to 187 during the 18 months after it (the Phase I post-implementation period).* This report extends that analysis for an additional 18 months through June 30, 2006 (the Phase II post-implementation period). The rate of AMI hospitalizations among city residents continued to decrease to 152 per 100,000 person-years, a decline of 19% and 41% from the Phase I post-implementation and pre-implementation period, respectively. No significant changes were observed in two comparison areas. These findings suggest that smoke-free policies can result in reductions in AMI hospitalizations that are sustained over a 3-year period and that these policies are important in preventing morbidity and mortality associated with heart disease. This effect likely is mediated through reduced SHS exposure among nonsmokers and reduced smoking, with the former making the larger contribution (4,6,7). . . .
Editorial Note:
Evidence from animal and human studies indicates that SHS exposure can produce rapid adverse effects on the functioning of the heart, blood, and vascular systems that increase the risk for a cardiac event (1). Relevant mechanisms include effects on platelet function, endothelial function, and inflammation. Epidemiologic and laboratory data indicate that the risk for heart disease and AMI increase rapidly with relatively small doses of tobacco smoke, such as those received from SHS, and then continue to increase more slowly with larger doses (1,8,9). Evidence also suggests that the acute effects of SHS exposure might be rapidly reversible (8,9).
Eliminating smoking in indoor spaces is the only way to fully protect nonsmokers from SHS
Heart attacks fell sharply in Pueblo in the years after a city smoking ban took effect, according to a report released Wednesday, and researchers say it's the strongest link yet between such laws and improved health.
The southern Colorado city saw a 41 percent drop in heart attack hospitalization rates among city residents in the three years after a smoking ban took effect July 1, 2003, according to the report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The size of the drop surprised researchers, said the study's lead researcher, Terry Pechacek, associate director for science at the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health.
"The significant continued decline was not predicted," he said. Several studies have shown that heart attacks decrease significantly when smoke-free laws are in place, but this was the first to show that such declines seem to continue over time.
Pechacek said it suggests that the risk of secondhand smoke might be underestimated, and that Colorado's smoking ban, which took effect July 1, 2006, can only go so far in protecting people.
"Even with the statewide law, people need to recognize that they need to pay attention to secondhand smoke in homes, vehicles and everywhere else," he said. . . .
"This study is very dramatic," said Dr. Michael Thun, a researcher with the American Cancer Society who was not involved in the CDC study. "This is now the ninth study, so it is clear that smoke-free laws are one of the most effective and cost-effective to reduce heart attacks." . . .
"I have never seen any proof at all that secondhand smoke is hazardous to anybody's health," said Bruce Hicks, owner of Murray Street Darts, who has been fighting the ban in court after being cited for openly defying it. "And besides that, I still think it's a business rights issue rather than a health issue."
So if you already smoke, good job and carry on. You are performing a valuable civic duty and deserve a gold-plated Zippo lighter embossed with the Colorado state seal. This, of course, should come out of the busy-bodies' share of the tobacco tax. It's the least they could do.
If you are an ex-smoker, don't worry, in a few short weeks, you should be comfortably back in the saddle, just like the Marlboro Man. Best part is you can do it guilt free, as a majority of Colorado voters have given you the go ahead.
If you have never smoked, what the heck are you waiting for? Make smoking a New Year's resolution ... it shouldn't be long before you are up to a pack a day and doing your part for health care in Colorado.
And if any busy-bodies want to give you a hard time about lighting up, just remind them you are doing it for the children. And it was their idea in the first place.
FORT COLLINS -- With how diversely county property is used by a variety of different groups, the Larimer County Board of Commissioners made a move Tuesday to keep tobacco from being handed out for free at any of those events.
The commissioners Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution during their weekly meeting prohibiting the giveaway of tobacco products, coupons for tobacco products, industry incentives or promotional items on property the county owns, leases or rents.
There are some exceptions to the prohibition centering around private businesses, such as the marina at Carter Lake and the Embassy Suites on the fairgrounds complex.
The commissioners agreed they could not tell private businesses what to do in their buildings, even if they were on county land.
The resolution has the support of the Larimer County Board of Health and a number of health advocates who spoke out or presented letters to the board before they passed the resolution.
A propertywide smoking ban at Centennial condominiums in Aspen went up in flames Tuesday after an overwhelming number of homeowners voted against the idea.
The “no” vote was so overwhelming, in fact, that the homeowners’ association board of directors didn’t even take an official count of the 22 people who attended the meeting and voted by a show of hands. Proxies also were sent in by homeowners who weren’t present, although it’s unknown how many were submitted.
But it was evident at the beginning of the annual homeowners meeting that the proxies wouldn’t garner the 66 and two-thirds vote needed by the 92 owners at Centennial, said Ed Cross, president of the homeowner’s association.
And of those who were present, including the nine-member board, about a half dozen voted in favor of a smoking ban.
The idea for a smoking ban at Centennial was prompted after two fires, blames on cigarettes, broke out there and at Castle Ridge Apartments, another Aspen affordable-housing complex. Residents began e-mailing Cross expressing concern for their safety, he said.