Prevention Matters

Toronto’s ban on smoking in restaurants that led to a major decline in heart and lung hospital admissions was named the “Best Prevention Idea of the Week,” while the lack of progress in eliminating infections that can harm or kill patients in U.S. hospitals was named the “Worst Prevention Idea of the Week."

The “Best/Worst” awards are announced each week in “Prevention Matters,” the blog of Partnership for Prevention. Nominees are submitted by Partnership staff as well as the general public, and are voted on by the staff. Partnership for Prevention is a nonpartisan organization of business, nonprofit and government leaders who are working to make evidence-based disease prevention and health promotion a national priority. More information is available at http://www.prevent.org/.

Best

Smoking Ban Cut Hospital Admissions

Toronto's ban on smoking in restaurants led to a major decline in heart and lung hospital admissions, a Canadian medical research study said Tuesday. Smoking in restaurants was banned by the city in 2001. The research published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal said within three years, hospitalizations for heart conditions fell 39 percent and 32 percent for respiratory conditions, the Globe and Mail reported. Using data from two other regions in Ontario that didn't have smoking bans, the rate of admissions for heart attacks jumped by almost 15 percent during the same time period, the report said.

Worst

U.S. Hospitals Get Low Marks on Curbing Infections

U.S. hospitals are making little progress in eliminating infections that can harm or kill patients, according to reports released April 13 by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Researchers found that rates of bloodstream infections after operations (postoperative sepsis) increased by 8 percent, rates of catheter-associated urinary tract infections following surgery increased by 3.6 percent, and rates of certain infections due to medical care increased by 1.6 percent. However, rates of pneumonia that developed after surgery (postoperative pneumonia) fell by 12 percent.