Effectiveness of legislative actions against tobacco smoking regarding the reduction of in-hospital morbidity of angina pectoris and myocardial infarction in Russia as a whole and 10 Russian constituent entities

Russian anti-tobacco policy is aimed at reducing long-term morbidity and mortality from smoking-related diseases.

Aim. To assess the associations of tobacco control (TC) legislative measures with hospitalization rate for myocardial infarction (MI) and angina in Russia as a whole and in 10 Russian constituent entities, as well as to compare the effectiveness of anti-smoking measures in regions.

Material and methods. We analyzed data on hospitalizations of patients with angina (I20) and acute (I21) and subsequent (I22) MI, as well as chronic rheumatic heart diseases (I05-I09), for 2005-2019 in Russia as a whole and in 10 Russian constituent entities. We analyzed hospital admission rates for angina and MI to compare the periods before and after introduction of Federal TC law in 2013, adjusting for possible confounders and long-term trends. We used interrupted time-series design and Poisson regression model with calculation of rate ratio (RR) and 95% CI. Regions were compared by means of original TC law implementation scale (TCIS) developed based on the results of Russian TC policy evaluation survey in 10 Russian regions (n=11625). We analyzed the relationship between the TC law measures implementation scores and RR of hospital admissions reductions for angina and MI after the TC law by means of Spearman’s rank correlation (coefficient with 95% CI) and linear regression models. Statistical package STATA 11.2 was used.

Results. The actual trend of hospital admission rates for angina after TC law introduction demonstrates the greatest slope change from the predicted trend (without the law) (p=0,004); less, but still significant slope change for MI (p=0,049), and no slope change for chronic rheumatic heart disease (p=0,332). Results showed a 16,6% decrease in hospital admission rates for angina (RR, 0,83; 95% CI, 074-0,93) and 3,5% — for MI (RR, 0,96; 95% CI, 0,96-0,97) after the TC law introduction in RF and effects of various magnitude in the regions. Regions with higher TCIS scores, i.e. better enforcement of full TC package had greater reduction in hospital admission rates for angina (rsp=-0,627; 95% CI, -1,05−-0,199; p=0,004); with better enforcement of smoke-free policies — grater reduction in hospitalization rates for MI (rsp= -0,793 95%CI, -1,08−-0,506, p<0,001). Reduction of hospital admission rates for angina and MI correlated with the higher scores for help to quit tobacco use (rsp=-0,555; 95% CI, -1,098−-0,01, p=0,045), (rsp= -0,736; 95% CI, -1,12−-0,357, p=0,027). Also, hospital admission rates for angina and MI were associated with the changes in smoking cessation prevalence in 2013-2018 in the regions (β=-0,345; 95% CI, -0,67−-0,02 p=0,041) and smoking prevalence in 2019 (β=2,964; 95% CI, 1,28-5,92, p=0,049), respectively.

Conclusion. TC legislation can lead not only to immediate reductions in hospital admission rates for angina and MI, but also to longer-term results. These effects may be due not only to the introduction of TC law, as such, but also to the enforcement of the law, as well as the direct results of TC measures — the decrease in smoking prevalence in the population.

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