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28/03/2014

Smoking Ban 'Cut Premature Births'

A new study has suggested that a ban on smoking in public places has had a positive impact on children's health.

According to the research, which has been published in The Lancet, a team of experts found a 10% fall in premature births and severe childhood asthma attacks within just one year of smoke-free laws being introduced.

While previous studies have already shown how the non-smoking laws have protected adults from the dangers of passing smoking, this study looked at children. Experts from the University of Edinburgh, Maastricht University, Hasselt University in Belgium, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital looked at more than 2.5 million births and almost 250,000 hospital attendances for asthma attacks in children.

Dr Jasper Been, lead study author from the Maastricht University Medical Centre in The Netherlands, said the research on children under the age of 12 had been informative.

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He said: "Our study provides clear evidence that smoking bans have considerable public health benefits for perinatal and child health, and provides strong support for WHO recommendations to create smoke-free public environments on a national level."

In addition, the study found there was a 5% reduction in the number of children being born very small for their age after the introduction of smoke-free laws.

Co-author Professor Aziz Sheikh, of Brigham and Women's Hospital, in Boston, Massachusetts, and the University of Edinburgh, said there was still potential to continue to improve the health of more children.

"The many countries that are yet to enforce smoke-free legislation should in the light of these findings reconsider their positions on this important health policy question," they explained.

In response to the report, spokesperson for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), Professor Ronnie Lamont, said: "This is an interesting study that provides further evidence that minimising access to smoke can have considerable public health benefits for perinatal and child health, in particular with regards to lowering the premature birth rate.

"Smoking during pregnancy has been shown to have adverse effects on fetal development and pregnant women need to be informed of the risks and should be offered advice and support to help them give up.

"This study adds to the existing evidence that smoking bans in enclosed public and work places have substantial benefits on both adult health outcomes and child and perinatal health outcomes and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists supports recommendations for further implementation of smoke-free environments."

(JP)

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"A new study has suggested that a ban on smoking in public places has had a positive impact on children's health."