Bans on smoking substantially reduce hospital admissions for heart attacks, research has shown.

On the first anniversary of the ban on public smoking in England, a report shows that smoke-free laws worldwide reduce admissions by almost one fifth (Preventive Medicine 2008 Jun 18; doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2008.06.007).

This meta-analysis of published studies shows that the effects were immediate. “The fact that many studies from so many locations around the world provide consistent findings of a substantial drop in acute myocardial infarction associated with the implementation of smoke-free laws increases the confidence that . . . smoke-free policies have immediate and …