Hospital admissions for acute myocardial infarction, angina, stroke, and asthma after implementation of Arizona's comprehensive statewide smoking ban.
OBJECTIVE
We examined the impact of Arizona's May 2007 comprehensive statewide smoking ban on hospital admissions for diagnoses for which there is evidence of a causal relationship with secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure (acute myocardial infarction [AMI], angina, stroke, and asthma).


METHODS
We compared monthly hospital admissions from January 2004 through May 2008 for these primary diagnoses and 4 diagnoses not associated with SHS (appendicitis, kidney stones, acute cholecystitis, and ulcers) for Arizona counties with preexisting county or municipal smoking bans and counties with no previous bans. We attributed reductions in admissions to the statewide ban if they occurred only in diagnoses associated with SHS and if they were larger in counties with no previous bans. We analyzed the data with Poisson regressions, controlling for seasonality and admissions trends. We also estimated cost savings.


RESULTS
Statistically significant reductions in hospital admissions were seen for AMI, angina, stroke, and asthma in counties with no previous bans over what was seen in counties with previous bans. No ban variable coefficients were statistically significant for diagnoses not associated with SHS.


CONCLUSIONS
Arizona's statewide smoking ban decreased hospital admissions for AMI, stroke, asthma, and angina.
Herman
Patricia M
PM
Evaluation, Research and Development Unit, Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721-0462, USA. pherman@email.arizona.edu
Walsh
Michele E
ME
D000787:Angina Pectoris / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001130:Arizona / Q000453:epidemiology; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015984:Causality; D017046:Cost Savings; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000453:epidemiology*; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016012:Poisson Distribution; D012621:Seasons; D020521:Stroke / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence
D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution
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