"No Smoking" Laws And Blood Pressure
New research has found that “no smoking” policies for public places have a beneficial effect on the blood pressure of non-smokers. The study’s conclusions, published November 21, 2018 in the Journal of the American Heart Association, found that systolic (top number) blood pressure was lower among non-smokers over the 30-year long course of the investigation, compared with non-smokers who lived in areas without smoke-free laws. No such effect was seen for diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number). Study leader Stephanie Mayne, Ph.D., noted that higher systolic blood pressure increases the risk of cardiovascular disease “so the reductions…seen in this study suggest a potentially meaningful effect on population-level risk.” Some 2,600 black and white adults participated in the study, enrolling when they were between the ages of 18 and 30. Earlier studies have shown that laws prohibiting smoking have been linked to reduced rates of hospitalization for heart disease, but this is the first to look at effects on blood pressure.
Also in this week’s bulletin:
