Hospital admissions for heart attacks among people under age 60 fell 11 percent in Italy's Piedmont region after the Italian government imposed a ban on indoor smoking, researchers from the University of Turin said.

Reuters reported Nov. 27 that researchers led by Francesco Barone-Adesi compared heart-attack admission rates from October to December 2004 to rates from February to June 2005, after the ban was implemented. Researchers noted that both active smoking and secondhand smoke increase the risk of heart attack.

No reduction in heart-attack admissions among patients over age 60 was found; the researchers suggested that the ban had more of an effect on younger smokers' habits, while heart attacks among older smokers may have been due to other causes.

"Our findings suggest that smoking regulations may have important short-term effects on health," the authors wrote. "The long-term effects of the Italian ban on respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and cancer will have to be evaluated in the years to come."

The study was published in the October 2006 issue of the European Heart Journal.