Smoking ban in Toronto pays health dividends

TORONTO — A new study says a ban on smoking in Toronto restaurants may be paying big health dividends.

The study says hospitalizations for cardiovascular and respiratory conditions dropped significantly after the restaurant smoking ban came into effect.

There was a 17.4 per cent drop in hospitalizations due to heart attacks in Toronto and a nearly 40 per cent decrease in hospitalizations for cardiovascular events in general.

The authors, from Toronto’s Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, say the type of study they conducted can’t prove the smoking ban caused these declines in hospitalizations.

They can only say that modelling suggests the elimination of smoking in restaurants is contributing to a substantial decline in the numbers of Torontonians admitted to hospital for these conditions.

The study is being published by the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Tags: nation and world, health, smoking bans, restaurant smoking, world, toronto