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Premature births fall in Scotland after ban

Farivar, Cyrus John MMTMarch 12, 2012

Scottish researchers found that after the 2006 public smoking ban many health indicators improved. They have called for smoke-free legislation to be expanded around the globe.

https://p.dw.com/p/14HB4

And finally today, let's talk about smoking.

Since Scotland introduced a public smoking ban in 2006, Scottish public health researchers now say that there has been a 10 percent drop in the country's premature birth rate.

The study, which was published in the journal PLoS Medicine on Tuesday, examined data from 700,000 women over 14 years, including time before the smoking ban. The researchers conclude that policies calling for smoke-free public spaces should be expanded.

The research team, which included public health scholars from the Centre for Population and Health Sciences at the University of Glasgow and Western General Hospital in Edinburgh, collected information about babies born pre-maturely between January 1, 1996 and December 31, 2009, as recorded by the Scottish Morbidity Record. So to learn more, I spoke with the paper's lead author, Daniel Mackay. He's a senior lecturer in public health at the University of Glasgow.