Research in America has found that a 2018 ban on smoking in public housing led to a fall in hospitalisations for cardiovascular problems.
In July 2018, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development banned smoking inside all their buildings, including public housing. Over two million people in the United States live in public housing and with 400,000 residents, the New York City Housing Authority is the largest public housing organisation in the country.
For this study, researchers at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine focussed on New York, where they examined how the introduction of the ban affected hospitalisation outcomes for heart attacks and strokes among the over 50s, that age being chosen as the point in life where the risk of heart disease increases.
The investigation a slight decline in heart attacks (from 1.7% of residents to 1.1%) and strokes (from 1.9% to 1.3%).
The rates of hospitalisation for both heart attacks and strokes in the public housing residents steadily declined during a period prior to the ban to 54 months after its introduction.
Exposure to secondhand smoke remains a leading cause of preventable death in the US, and while the number of adults exposed to secondhand smoke fell from 87.5% in 1988 to 25.2% in 2014, there are still around about 58 million American non-smokers exposed to secondhand smoke, mostly in their own homes.
The paper’s lead author, Elle Anastasiou Pesante said: ‘Housing remains a focal setting for interventions aimed to reduce adverse health events that may be associated with exposure to secondhand smoke. These results are promising, and going forward, we are eager to understand longer term impacts of smoke free policies on cardiovascular and other chronic conditions, particularly among older adults who reside in public housing settings.’
Photo: RDNE Stock project