There has been a significant reduction in respiratory symptoms such as coughing and wheezing among non-smoking bar staff in the Republic since the introduction of the smoking ban, a new study has found.
Researchers from universities across the State who conducted the study found a 16.7 per cent reduction in reporting of respiratory symptoms of any kind by bar staff in the Republic since the ban.
But they found no reduction in respiratory symptoms among bar workers in Northern Ireland over the same period, where smoking is still permitted in pubs.
Northern Ireland health Minister Shaun Woodward has been sent a copy of this new research, which was conducted among staff in pubs in urban and rural areas of Dublin, Cork, Galway and Derry.
Research teams also measured the level of cotinine, a break down product of nicotine, in the saliva of bar workers to assess their exposure to secondhand smoke and found levels of this dropped by 80 per cent in non- smoking bar workers in the Republic after the smoking ban.
There was an unexpected 20 per cent drop in the North over the same period, but one of the authors of the research Dr Shane Allwright said this could be explained by a downturn in the bar trade in the North and the fact that bar workers there who gave samples had worked fewer hours when followed up.
Dr Allwright, a senior lecturer in epidemiology at Trinity College, Dublin, said the overall findings had implications for policy makers and legislators currently considering smoke-free workplace legislation.
"Shaun Woodward has asked to see this paper, so we have sent him an advance copy," she said.
The research involved tracking the respiratory health and amount of exposure to secondhand smoke of bar workers in the Republic and the North in the six months leading up to the smoking ban being imposed in the Republic in March 2004.
The workers were then followed up one year later. Some 329 bar staff were enrolled, 247 were followed up a year later and 158 of these were non-smokers.
The research, which is due to be published today in the British Medical Journal, also found that exposure to secondhand smoke outside of work among non- smoking bar staff in the Republic also declined after the smoking ban.
"Now we didn't specifically ask a question about home, but we asked about exposure outside work and certainly there does seem to have been a drop in exposure outside of work," Dr Allwright said.
"So one can assume that that includes less exposure at home and there are a number of other studies that have found this, that when a smoking ban comes in smokers become very much more aware of the harm of passive smoking, and if they are prepared to protect members of the public by not smoking in public, they are obviously going to be even more prepared to protect the health of their families."
After the first part of the study (before the smoking ban) 65 per cent of non-smoking bar workers in the Republic reported one or more respiratory symptom. This dropped by 25 per cent a year later (after the ban). Also, after the ban, significantly fewer reported a cough during the day or night or phlegm production.
"Similarly, after the ban, reporting any sensory symptom dropped from 67 per cent to 45 per cent, reflecting significant declines in reporting red eyes and sore throat".
"I think it (the smoking ban) has had quite significant health implications and informally some of the bar staff were saying they haven't had to go to the doctor as often," Dr Allwright said.