Smoking Legislation Helped Prevent 11,000 Hospital Admissions In England

New findings published in the European Registry Journal show that smoking legislation could help lead to fewer hospital admissions.

Researchers found that smoke-free legislation resulted in 11,000 fewer admissions to the hospital a year from respiratory infections in children.

"Our results add the growing body of evidence demonstrating the benefits of smoke-free legislation. Although our results cannot definitively establish a cause and effect, the rigorous analysis clearly shows that the introduction of smoke-free legislation was associated with significant reductions in hospital admissions among children," Dr. Jaspen Been, lead study author, said in a news release.

Researchers found that the introduction of legislation resulted in an immediate reduction of 13.8 percent in admission to the hospital for lower respiratory tract infections.

For the study, researchers analyzed close to 1,6552,000 hospital admissions in children across England from 2001. Then the children were analyzed between 0 to 14 years to reduce the effect of those who actively smoked.

The findings also revealed a reduction in hospital admissions, varying across socio-economic status with the decrease being largest among deprived children.

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