The number of heart attacks in Pueblo, Colo., fell 27 percent in the 18 months after the city banned smoking in most indoor public spaces, Reuters reported Sept. 25.

"Heart-attack hospitalizations did not change significantly for residents of surrounding Pueblo County or in the comparison city of Colorado Springs, neither of which have non-smoking ordinances," noted the American Heart Association (AHA). "The decline in the number of heart-attack hospitalizations within the first year and a half after the non-smoking ban that was observed in this study is most likely due to a decrease in the effect of secondhand smoke as a triggering factor for heart attacks."

"Adopting a non-smoking ordinance has the potential to rapidly improve the cardiovascular health of a community," said lead researcher Carl Bartecchi of the University of Colorado School of Medicine. "You can save lives with drugs and expensive, sophisticated devices, but this single community action led to 108 fewer heart attacks in an 18-month period ... Each hospital admission for a heart attack costs an average of $20,000 here in Pueblo, so in addition to saving lives, non-smoking ordinances also save a lot of money."

The study was published online in the AHA journal Circulation.