The effects of smoke-free legislation on acute myocardial infarction: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Comprehensive smoke-free legislation has been implemented in many countries. The current study quantitatively examined the reduction in risk of acute myocardial infarction (MI) occurrence following the legislations and the relationship with the corresponding smoking prevalence decrease. METHODS: PubMed, EMBASE, and Google Scholar databases and bibliographies of relevant studies and reviews were searched for potential original studies published from January 1, 2004, through October 31, 2011. Meta-analysis was performed using a random effect model to estimate the overall effects of the smoking-free legislations. Meta-regression was used to investigate possible causes of heterogeneity in risk estimates. RESULTS: A total of 18 eligible studies with 44 estimates of effect size were used in this study. Meta-analysis produced a pooled estimate of the relative risk of 0.87 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.84 to 0.91). There was significant heterogeneity in the risk estimates (overall I² = 96.03%, p<0.001). In meta-regression analysis, studies with greater smoking prevalence decrease produced larger relative risk (adjusted coefficient -0.027, 95% CI: -0.049 to -0.006, p=0.014). CONCLUSION: Smoke-free legislations in public and work places were associated with significant reduction in acute MI risk, which might be partly attributable to reduced smoking prevalence.