Secondhand Smoke an Acute Heart Risk?

Abstract

PEOPLE AT RISK OF HEART DISEASE should avoid secondhand smoke because it increases the risk of acute myocardial infarction (MI), the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warns in a commentary in the April 24 issue of the British Medical Journal (BMJ. 2004;328:980983). The warning accompanied a study concluding that smoking bans at work and in public places may be associated with reducing morbidity from heart disease (BMJ. 2004;328:977-983). The study found that during a 6-month ban on smoking in work and public places in Helena, Mont, in 2002, admissions for acute MI to the only hospital in the isolated community of 68140 decreased from 40 (the average number occurring during the same months in the previous 4 years) to 24. At the same time, while Helena restricted public smoking, the sparsely populated region surrounding the community did not. And admission to the Helena hospital for MI by patients from outside the community remained statistically the same as in previous years. The researchers also noted that admission rates involving Helena residents returned to previous levels following a rescinding of the ban at the end of 2002.