Smoking ban credited with state drop in heart attacks

LYNN – A study released Wednesday strongly suggests that a statewide public smoking ban and a decrease in overall pollution are responsible for a lessening in the number of fatal heart attacks among Massachusetts residents.An average 577 fewer Massachusetts residents have died from heart attacks each year since a statewide ban on smoking in almost all restaurants, bars and workplaces took effect four years ago, according to the study conducted by the state Department of Public Health and the Harvard School of Public Health.”The results in the study refer to the decrease in exposure to smoke and other pollutants,” said Joyce Redford, director of the Lynn-based North Shore Tobacco Control Program. “This is exactly why we thought it was such an important public health law. It not only protects the general public, but also the people who work in bars and restaurants.”Redford said Lynn was among those communities at the forefront of the initiative, noting that the city was the 100th of the state’s 351 cities and towns to pass a local smoking ban. “Lynn went smoke-free shortly before the law was passed at the state level,” she said.The ban on smoking in private clubs was later challenged by another community, but the state’s courts upheld the authority of local boards of health to impose such a ban. “Basically the courts said the board of health has the power to regulate private clubs,” Redford said.Enactment of the statewide public smoking ban was preceded by plenty of controversy. Businesses in communities with a smoking ban, particularly restaurants, claimed they would lose customers to adjacent towns or cities where smoking was still permitted.”There were several border issues,” said Redford. “The argument was there from the businesses, and that concern helped build critical mass among Massachusetts legislators to vote for an across-the-board ban to make it a level playing field.”The study released Wednesday showed that the number of heart attacks began dropping in communities with strong anti-smoking laws even before the 2004 law. Reductions were also seen in communities after the state ban, and by the end of 2006, the rate of decline in all cities and towns had nearly converged.Additionally, the pattern shows that advances in treatment of heart attacks were not responsible for the smaller number of deaths, according to the authors. Variables including pollution, smoking prevalence and seasonality were taken into account before the primary conclusion was drawn that the smoking ban was the biggest factor in declining deaths.”While there may be several factors that played a role in this decline, we believe the single most compelling reason was reduced exposure to secondhand smoke in workplaces across the state,” state Department of Public Health Commissioner John Auerbach said.Associated Press material was used in this report.