The number of premature births and children’s hospital visits for asthma dropped significantly in parts of the United States, Canada, and Europe barely a year after they enacted smoking bans, researchers reported in The Lancet last week.
The new analysis combined the results of 11 studies encompassing more than 2.5 million births and nearly 250,000 asthma attacks. Experts called it the best evidence to date that legislation creating smoke-free public places and workplaces improves children’s health, even in the womb. The results are “very impressive,” said Dr. Brian Mercer, chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, who noted that half a million American babies are born prematurely each year.
“If you could prevent 10 percent, you’d prevent nearly 50,000 premature babies in the U.S. alone each year,” said Dr. Mercer, who was not involved in the study. Dr. Vincenzo Berghella, the president of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, said: “There are over a million babies dying of being born preterm every year in the world. We can make major strides in decreasing that with smoking bans.”
After an exhaustive review of relevant studies spanning 38 years, the researchers analyzed five that looked at perinatal and child health after local smoking bans in North America and six studies conducted after national bans in Europe. Hospital visits for childhood asthma and premature births both declined about 10 percent in the year after smoking bans took effect, the researchers found.
The investigators also pooled data from two studies and found a 5 percent reduction in the number of children born very small for their gestational age after the introduction of smoke-free laws.
An earlier analysis of the impact of smoking bans on adult health demonstrated a 15 percent reduction in cardiovascular events. The new report offers “another very good reason to institute smoking bans in public places,” said Dr. Muktar Aliyu, an associate professor of health policy and medicine at Vanderbilt University who has studied birth outcomes linked to maternal smoking. Only 16 percent of the world’s population is covered by comprehensive smoke-free laws, and 40 percent of children worldwide are routinely exposed to secondhand smoke.
Growing up, Dr. Aliyu said, he stifled coughs as his father smoked in the car. “Adults can just walk away or change their environment,” he said. “A child can’t.” Despite fears that bans could lead to more smoking at home, studies have shown the opposite is true.
“Strong smoke-free laws change social norms about smoking, and consequently people implement smoke-free policies in their own homes as well,” said Joanna Cohen, the director of the Institute for Global Tobacco Control at the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health. That’s probably how “smoke-free policies have such a direct impact on child health,” she added.
The new analysis combined the results of 11 studies encompassing more than 2.5 million births and nearly 250,000 asthma attacks. Experts called it the best evidence to date that legislation creating smoke-free public places and workplaces improves children’s health, even in the womb. The results are “very impressive,” said Dr. Brian Mercer, chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, who noted that half a million American babies are born prematurely each year.
“If you could prevent 10 percent, you’d prevent nearly 50,000 premature babies in the U.S. alone each year,” said Dr. Mercer, who was not involved in the study. Dr. Vincenzo Berghella, the president of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, said: “There are over a million babies dying of being born preterm every year in the world. We can make major strides in decreasing that with smoking bans.”
After an exhaustive review of relevant studies spanning 38 years, the researchers analyzed five that looked at perinatal and child health after local smoking bans in North America and six studies conducted after national bans in Europe. Hospital visits for childhood asthma and premature births both declined about 10 percent in the year after smoking bans took effect, the researchers found.
The investigators also pooled data from two studies and found a 5 percent reduction in the number of children born very small for their gestational age after the introduction of smoke-free laws.
An earlier analysis of the impact of smoking bans on adult health demonstrated a 15 percent reduction in cardiovascular events. The new report offers “another very good reason to institute smoking bans in public places,” said Dr. Muktar Aliyu, an associate professor of health policy and medicine at Vanderbilt University who has studied birth outcomes linked to maternal smoking. Only 16 percent of the world’s population is covered by comprehensive smoke-free laws, and 40 percent of children worldwide are routinely exposed to secondhand smoke.
Growing up, Dr. Aliyu said, he stifled coughs as his father smoked in the car. “Adults can just walk away or change their environment,” he said. “A child can’t.” Despite fears that bans could lead to more smoking at home, studies have shown the opposite is true.
“Strong smoke-free laws change social norms about smoking, and consequently people implement smoke-free policies in their own homes as well,” said Joanna Cohen, the director of the Institute for Global Tobacco Control at the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health. That’s probably how “smoke-free policies have such a direct impact on child health,” she added.
