Abstract
BackgroundSeveral studies have demonstrated that smoke-free legislation is associated with a reduced risk of mortality from acute myocardial infarction (AMI). This study aimed to examine and quantify the potential effect of smoke-free legislation on AMI mortality rate in different countries.MethodsStudies were identified using a systematic search of the scientific literature from electronic databases, including PubMed, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, Embase, Google Scholar, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), from their inception through September 30, 2017. A random effects model was employed to estimate the overall effects of smoke-free legislation on the AMI mortality rate. Subgroup analysis was performed to explore the possible causes of heterogeneity in risk estimates based on sex and age. The results of meta-analysis after excluding the studies with a high risk of bias were reported in this study.ResultsA total of 10 eligible studies with 16 estimates of effect size were included in this meta-analysis. Significant heterogeneity in the risk estimates was identified (overall I2 = 94.6%, p < 0.001). Therefore, a random effects model was utilized to estimate the overall effect of smoke-free legislation. There was an 8% decline in AMI mortality after introducing smoke-free legislation (RR = 0.92, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.90–0.94). The results of subgroup analyses showed that smoke-free legislation was significantly associated with lower rates of mortality for the following 5 diagnostic subgroups: smoke-free in workplaces, restaurants and bars (RR = 0.92, 95% CI: 0.90–0.95), smaller sample size (RR = 0.92, 95% CI: 0.89–0.95), study location in Europe (RR = 0.90, 95% CI: 0.85–0.94), regional study area (RR = 0.92, 95% CI: 0.89–0.94), and no previous local smoke-free legislation (RR = 0.91, 95% CI: 0.90–0.93). However, there was not much difference in AMI mortality rates after the legislation between the longer (RR = 0.92, 95% CI: 0.86–0.98) and shorter follow-up duration subgroups (RR = 0.92, 95% CI: 0.89–0.94).ConclusionSmoke-free legislation could significantly reduce the AMI mortality rate by 8%. The reduction in the AMI mortality rate was more significant in studies with more comprehensive laws, without prior smoke-free bans, with a smaller sample size, at the regional level, and with a location in Europe.
Highlights
Several studies have demonstrated that smoke-free legislation is associated with a reduced risk of mortality from acute myocardial infarction (AMI)
The total number of participants was 2,266,256. All of these studies focused on the AMI mortality rate, and provided estimates for the effect of smoke-free legislation on the mortality rate
These results showed that the effect of smoke-free legislation on the AMI mortality rate was evident in both long-term and short-term studies
Summary
Several studies have demonstrated that smoke-free legislation is associated with a reduced risk of mortality from acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD) 2015 estimated that smoking was the second leading risk factor for attributable mortality among both men and women, and a total of 6.4 million deaths were attributable to smoking worldwide [2]. Several studies showed that smoking may be an important independent risk factor for the development of myocardial infarction in male patients aged above 40 years old [8], in young adults [9], and in the Italian population [10]. A recent study showed that the implementation of tobacco control policies in China since the signing of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2003 has not been effective in reducing smoking prevalence because of the factors about cultural context, economic and social barriers [12]
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