Everyone knows that smoking or second hand smoke is bad for the health and brings with it numerous negative effects such as turning the teeth yellow or making the lungs sickly. However, aside from the usual ailments associated with smoke, only a few know that smoke can also affect the heart.

Based on a the newest study conducted by Mayo Clinic, secondhand smoke kills and that smoke-free workplace laws can save lives. Their study observed the frequency of heart attacks and sudden cardiac deaths in Olmsted County, Minnesota, after a smoke-free ordinance took effect.

Researchers of the study found that the number of heart-related incidence was cut by half among the residents in the observed location because of the ordinance along with the 23% drop of adult smoking.

Under the population-based study, 18 months prior to the smoke-free ordinance being passed in 2002, there was a recorded 212.3 incidence of heart attack per 100,000 residents. After 18 months following the ordinance taking effect in 2007, the rate of incidence dropped to 102.9 per 100,000 residents - a decrease of around 45%. Not only that, the incidence of sudden cardiac death also fell from 152.5 to 76.6 per 100,000 residents.

Richard Hurt, director of Mayo Clinic's Nicotine Dependence Center, pointed out that their observation of smoke-free workplace laws help reduce the chances of having a heart attack. In addition, Hurt noted that everyone, specifically people with known coronary artery disease, should avoid contact with secondhand smoke, that it is too dangerous to their health.

In a similar study done by the University of Bath's Tobacco Control Research Group, researchers found that since the introduction of the smoke-free legislation in England, there was a drop by 2.4% in the number of emergency hospital admissions for heart attacks, reported CigaretteFlavours.com.

According to Robin Hewings, Cancer Research UK's tobacco control manager, the study conducted by the University of Bath shows how smoke-free legislation helped improve people's health soon after the legislation took effect.

But how does secondhand smoke or smoking increase the risk for heart diseases? According to WebMD.com, nicotine is the culprit as it:

  1. Decreases the oxygen to the heart
  2. Increases the blood pressure and heart rate
  3. Increases blood clotting
  4. Damages cells that line coronary arteries and other blood vessels