
A US study published on thebmj.com. finds that prison smoking bans are associated with a substantial reduction in deaths from smoking related causes, such as heart disease and cancer.
Smoking related deaths were cut by up to 11% in state prisons with long-term bans in place. In the United States at year end 2011, there were 1.4 million people in state prisons. Fifty to 83 percent of people in prison smoke - substantially higher than the general population outside prison.
US prisons have increasingly implemented smoking and tobacco bans, but the effects of smoking on mortality and the health benefit of these policies have not been evaluated. England and Wales are also implementing or considering complete bans on smoking in prison. So a team of US researchers set out to determine the mortality attributable to smoking and years of potential life lost from smoking among people in prison - and whether bans on smoking in prison are associated with reductions in smoking related deaths. Their results are based on surveys of inmates in state correctional facilities and data on state prison tobacco policies and deaths in prisons across the United States.
"These findings suggest that smoking bans have health benefits for people in prison, although bans impose limits on individual autonomy and many people resume smoking after release," they add.
And they call for ongoing research and implementation efforts "to promote effective long term cessation in prisons and after release as part of a comprehensive tobacco strategy for this high risk group."
Source: Eurekalert
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