Beginning in March 2006, the Smoking, Health, and Social Act in Scotland prohibited smoking in all enclosed public spaces and workplaces. According to a new study published in the July 31 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, this ban has led to a decrease in the number of hospital admissions for acute coronary syndrome (ACS), a term which refers to conditions where chest pain occurs due to insufficient blood supply to the heart as a result of coronary artery disease.

Investigators from the University of Glasgow and their colleagues examined the number of hospitalizations for ACS before and after the implementation of the smoking ban using information from nine hospitals in Scotland. They found that, in the first 10 months after the ban was in place, there was a 14% reduction in the number of ACS admissions among smokers, a 19% reduction among former smokers, and a 21% reduction among those who never smoked. The investigators suggested that the prohibition was not only protecting non-smokers from second-hand smoke, but also encouraging smokers to quit or cut back on smoking.

Additional studies are needed to determine whether these early benefits are sustained over time. However, the researchers suggest that the smoking ban is changing social norms so that smoking is less acceptable among the general public. In the United States, there is no national ban on smoking, but many states have instituted statewide prohibitions on smoking in public spaces and workplaces.