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Society
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Smoking ban cuts heart attacks and strokes

Published: 22 Feb 13 07:48 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/society/20130222-48127.html

It is never too late to stop smoking to reduce health risks - new figures show the number of heart attacks in Germany has dropped by nearly nine percent since a smoking ban in public places was introduced five years ago.

A study published this week by the German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ) involving data from nearly 9,000 people aged between 50 and 74 showed the clear correlation between smoking and serious health risks.

"We were able to show that smokers have more than twice the risk of cardio-vascular diseases as non-smokers," said Hermann Brenner, head of the study.

His statement issued by the centre said that a 60-year-old smoker had the heart attack risk of a 79-year-old non-smoker, and the stroke risk of a 69-year-old non-smoker.

And the positive effect of quitting can be quick to be seen - a smoker's risk of stroke or heart attack declines by more than 40 percent over the first five years after the last cigarette, he said.

Another study showed an 8.6-percent reduction in heart attacks generally, since the introduction during 2007 and 2008 of a ban on smoking in many public places. This was the conclusion of work conducted last year by the Kiel Institute for Therapy and Health Research based on data from the 3.7 million people insured by the DAK statutory insurer.

Those bans, based on a law protecting employees from having to be in smoky workplaces, prevented more than 35,000 serious cardio-vascular illnesses, the study suggested. These would have cost around €150 million in treatment.

DPA/The Local/hc

What do you think? Leave your comment below.


Your comments about this article:

09:37 February 22, 2013 by DoubleDTown
Smoking ban? I haven't noticed less smoking. Call me sensitive. California and Ilinois and Florida and NYC -- THOSE are smoking bans. And they've very much improved things.
10:05 February 22, 2013 by zeddriver
But at what cost? I.E. Do we really want more people living even longer? It might seem cold. But our world is having a hard enough time supporting the number of people it has now. Yet all the nanny state supporters that try to mandate you be healthy via regulation. Don't stop to think about the other side of forcing one to live longer.
14:00 February 22, 2013 by DoubleDTown
I don't look at public smoking bans as a health issue so much as a convenience. I enjoy the public places (e.g. bars, restaurants, airplanes, buses) much more when they aren't smokey. That increases my quality of life probably more significantly than the health benefits.
14:05 February 22, 2013 by ovalle3.14
Then why not forbid it altogether? My crystal ball tells me, that will bring even bigger health benefits!
16:21 February 22, 2013 by EffectivelyME
"But our world is having a hard enough time supporting the number of people it has now."

Seriously?

Whew, my sarcasm detector failed me for a moment. Thanks for the laugh.
21:37 February 22, 2013 by zeddriver
@EffectivelyMe

It was a bit of both. The sort of person that advocates that the government should force you to not smoke, Drink alcohol, Or eat meat, All in the name of you being healthy and living longer. Are usually the same ones that bleat endlessly about all the harm people are doing to the earth. Those two things seem to be in opposition to each other.

Remember though. We do have a lot of older folk who are on government assistance. And the numbers are rising. So who will pay for this? It is a very real problem. In the USA. Most people think that the military industrial complex is the biggest item in the budget. It's not. It amounts to 19% of the budget. Social security, Medicaid, Medicare, Food stamps, Health. Amounts to 45%
10:06 February 23, 2013 by sonriete
It is true that every other species on this planet is suffering horribly due to the huge increase in human population growth and lifespan extensions. No reasonable person could argue against those cold hard facts.
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