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Fewer children visited emergency rooms for asthma problems in the three years after cities banned indoor smoking than in the three years before, according to a new study.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — A new study helps to answer the burning question of whether recently enacted indoor smoking bans in public areas have improved health. The research finds the bans are associated with a 17 percent overall reduction in the number of children visiting emergency departments with asthma complaints.
“Across 20 metropolitan areas that introduced clean indoor air regulations during the 2000s, fewer children were seen in the emergency rooms for asthma exacerbations,” said study senior author Theresa Shireman, a professor at the Brown University School of Public Health. “Clean indoor air laws not only reduce expensive health care use, but they also help parents and their children avoid time-consuming, stressful events.”
Shireman and co-authors Dr. Christina Ciaccio of the University of Chicago and Tami Gurley-Calvez of the University of Kansas argue that more cities should pass restrictions that prevent smoking in indoor public spaces such as restaurants. The three researchers performed the study while colleagues at Kansas.
“Children are in a very unique situation in that they have very little control over their environment,” Ciaccio said. “This study shows that even those short exposures to secondhand smoke in public spaces like restaurants can have a significant impact on asthma exacerbations.”
Read more here. (Brown University)
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — A new study helps to answer the burning question of whether recently enacted indoor smoking bans in public areas have improved health. The research finds the bans are associated with a 17 percent overall reduction in the number of children visiting emergency departments with asthma complaints.
“Across 20 metropolitan areas that introduced clean indoor air regulations during the 2000s, fewer children were seen in the emergency rooms for asthma exacerbations,” said study senior author Theresa Shireman, a professor at the Brown University School of Public Health. “Clean indoor air laws not only reduce expensive health care use, but they also help parents and their children avoid time-consuming, stressful events.”
Shireman and co-authors Dr. Christina Ciaccio of the University of Chicago and Tami Gurley-Calvez of the University of Kansas argue that more cities should pass restrictions that prevent smoking in indoor public spaces such as restaurants. The three researchers performed the study while colleagues at Kansas.
“Children are in a very unique situation in that they have very little control over their environment,” Ciaccio said. “This study shows that even those short exposures to secondhand smoke in public spaces like restaurants can have a significant impact on asthma exacerbations.”
Read more here. (Brown University)
