Heart attacks decreased for non-smokers by 70%
Results confirm hazards of secondhand smoke
After a countywide smoking ban was implemented in Indiana's Monroe County, hospital admissions for heart attacks dropped 70% for non-smokers, but not for smokers, according to a new study.1
Researchers compared 22 months before and after the smoke-free law was implemented, and found a 59% net decrease in hospital admissions for heart attacks in nonsmokers with no prior cardiac history, hypertension, or high cholesterol.
This shows the dramatic impact that a smokeless workplace can have on employee heart attack risk, says Dong-Chul Seo, PhD, CHES, the study's lead author and an assistant professor in Indiana UniversityBloomington's Department of Applied Health Science.
"The results of my study confirm how hazardous exposure to secondhand smoke is," says Seo. "Occupational health professionals should use these research findings to advocate for a smoke-free workplace."
According to the American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation, 12,559 municipalities are covered by a 100% smoke-free provision in workplaces, representing 62.8% of the U.S. population. A total of 26 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington, D.C. have laws requiring 100% smoke-free workplaces.
"The study shows that strong smoke-free workplace laws result in immediate and significant improvements in heart health, particularly in nonsmokers," says Seo.
Give workers a long lead time
Dallas-based Texas Instruments is currently evaluating the possibility of switching to a smoke-free workplace at five facilities in Texas and Arizona, covering 13,000 (85%) of its employees.
"We are in the process of building the business case and identifying the potential pitfalls and pros and cons of this, so we can present this to management and then proceed," says Linda Moon, manager of health promotion.
Moon says that a team of representatives from the company's different business units, facilities group, environmental safety and health, and benefits department is currently looking at several factors. These include the current location of designated smoking areas, maintenance costs incurred as a result of smoking, air condition and ventilation costs, and occupational illnesses and injuries related to secondhand smoke and productivity.
"We currently have an integrated data warehouse with all of our medical, pharmacy and disability data, so we can determine the impact of tobacco-related disorders on our overall claims experience, and the number of people who are using disability dollars as a result of smoking-related illness," Moon says. "We are pulling that data now, to begin to evaluate that."
Measuring loss of productivity due to smoking is more difficult. "That's a really hard thing to get your arms around," says Moon. The team is currently calculating the total time spent away from the work site due to smoking breaks that are being taken.
"Before we proceed, we will do some polls and studies with our management team to see how it may impact business operations if we do this," she says. "We want to be cautious about doing it in the right way if we move forward."
That includes giving employees ample warningat least a yearto quit smoking before the workplace goes smoke-free, with a big push to boost participation in smoking cessation programs. "We don't see a real high utilization of our current smoking cessation program. We are looking at a more intense program, delivered in a different model, either phone or on site," says Moon.
Currently, an on-line smoking cessation program is available and prescription medications covered. The company is considering covering over-the-counter nicotine replacement therapy and offering flexibility in the workplace to make it easy for employees to attend programs onsite.
In 2008, employees who smoke pay $30 a month extra for medical premiums. The same charge applies for an adult dependent covered under the plan, so if an employee and their spouse both smoke, they pay up to $720 extra annually.
The goal is to help employees kick the habit and be able to sustain that over the long term, says Moon.
"Some companies make a decision and implement this in 30 days, but we think it's critical to give a really long lead time," says Moon. "If employees are not successful on their first try, they will still have time to attempt it againand hopefully be successful before the policy would go into place."
Reference
1. Seo DC, Torabi MR. Reduced admissions for acute myocardial infarction associated with a public smoking ban: Matched controlled study. Journal of Drug Education 2007; 37(3):217-226.
For more information contact:Linda Moon, Manager, Health Promotion, Texas Instruments, Dallas, TX. Phone: (972) 917-7136. Fax: (972) 917-6495. E-mail: [email protected]. Dong-Chul Seo, PhD, CHES, Department of Applied Health Science, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN. Phone: (812) 855-9379. Fax: (812) 855-3936, E-mail: [email protected]. A manual entitled "Making Your Workplace Smoke free: A Decision Maker's Guide" provides information on how to design, implement, and evaluate environmental tobacco smoke policies and related activities. The publication can be downloaded at no charge from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's web site (www.cdc.gov/tobacco/how2quit.htm.) Click on "Secondhand Smoke" and scroll down to "Consumer Summaries and Guides." Click on the publication's title.
After a countywide smoking ban was implemented in Indiana's Monroe County, hospital admissions for heart attacks dropped 70% for non-smokers, but not for smokers, according to a new study.You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
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