Hospital admissions for heart attacks declined 11 percent in the year after smoking was banned in workplaces across Ireland, according to researchers at Cork University.

Reuters reported Sept. 4 that researcher Edmond Cronin and colleagues studied public-hospital admissions in southwest Ireland during the year following the ban's implementation in March 2004. There was no further reduction reported in the second year after the ban, but Cronin said the findings still "should further encourage health authorities to look at more smoking bans around the world."

The data were presented at a meeting of the European Society of Cardiology.