Mayo Clinic researchers have amassed additional evidence that secondhand smoke kills and smoke-free workplace laws save lives.
Their research shows that the incidence of heart attacks and sudden cardiac deaths was cut in half among Olmsted County, Minn. residents after a smoke-free ordinance took effect. Adult smoking dropped 23% during the same time frame, as the rates of other risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and obesity remained stable or increased.
“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,” says Richard Hurt, M.D., director of Mayo Clinic’s Nicotine Dependence Center.
“We are going to use this information to help us convince corporations -- convince countries -- that this is the right thing to do to protect the health of their workers and their citizens,” Dr. Hurt says.
The study draws data from the Rochester Epidemiology Project, a long-term, collaborative medical records project among health care providers in Olmsted County. The project makes Mayo Clinic one of the few places in the world where retrospective population-based studies are possible and allows researchers at Mayo Clinic to zero in on the frequency of certain conditions.
“This study underscores once more the importance of monitoring heart disease in communities in order to understand how to enhance cardiovascular health,” says Véronique Roger, M.D., director of Mayo Clinic’s Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery, who leads cardiovascular disease surveillance through the Rochester Epidemiology Project.
The population-based study showed that during the 18 months before Olmsted County’s first smoke-free law for restaurants was passed in 2002, the regional incidence of heart attack was 212.3 cases per 100,000 residents. In the 18 months following a comprehensive smoke-free ordinance in 2007, in which restaurants and workplaces became smoke-free, that rate dropped to 102.9 per 100,000 residents -- a decrease of about 45%. Additionally, during these two time periods, the incidence of sudden cardiac death fell from 152.5 to 76.6 per 100,000 residents -- a 50% reduction.
“Our findings provide support to the life-saving effect that smoke-free legislation can have among community members affected by these laws,” said co-author Jon Ebbert, M.D., associate director of Mayo Clinic’s Nicotine Dependence Center.
