Hospital admissions for heart attacks among nonsmokers fell 70 percent after an Indiana county banned smoking in most indoor spaces, Medical News Today reported Nov. 19.

Indiana University researchers studied hospital admissions in Monroe County and Delaware County -- similar in many ways except that Monroe has banned most public smoking, while Delaware has not. In an analysis of hospital admissions before and after the Monroe ban was implemented, they found that admissions for acute myocardial infarction among nonsmokers with no history of heart disease fell 70 percent in the 22 months after the ban in Monroe county, compared to an 11 percent drop in Delaware Country.

"Heart attack admissions for smokers saw no similar decline during the study, so the benefits of the ban appear to come more from the reduced exposure to secondhand smoke among nonsmokers than from reduced consumption of tobacco among smokers," said lead researcher Dong-Chul Seo.