Smoking bans reduce heart attacks, study says

Almost two weeks ago, Raytown’s leaders rejected a smoking ban for bars and restaurants. That’s bad news for Raytown’s drinkers and diners hearts.

A pair of recently released studies report that cities with smoking bans see fewer heart attacks.

The lead author of one of the studies, published in the Journal of the

American College of Cardiology, was David Meyers of the University of

Kansas Medical Center.

“The two studies that were published … show scientifically and definitively that smoking bans are beneficial to health,” Meyers told The Pitch.

“So the opponents can no longer object that there is no good scientific

basis for banning smoking.”

While several cities in the area have enacted bans, several cities — Riverside, Bonner Springs, Lake Quivira, Edwardsville, Merriam, Mission Hills, Raytown and Grandview — have not.

The bans have only been enacted within the last five years, so seeing the benefits so quickly is a little surprising. Then again, heart attacks can be measured in minutes so it’s not so surprising, Meyers said.

“As little as 20 minutes of exposure to tobacco smoke can result in 1) increase clotting of blood 2) decreased good cholesterol 3) increased inflammation of the arteries and 4) spasm of arteries,” Meyers said. “Each of those four components can materially accelerate heart attack, particularly blood clotting because heart attacks are caused by a combination of mild hardening of the arteries coupled with the abrupt onset of a blood clot completely blocking the artery.”

While the new research reports on smoking bans’ effects on the heart, it does not show the bans’ effects on emphysema and lung cancer.

“We may know that 10 or 20 years from now,” Meyers said.