Impact of tobacco control policies in hospitals: Evaluation of a national smoke-free campus ban in Spain

Introduction On January 2, 2011, the Spanish government passed a new smoking law that banned smoking in hospital campuses. The objective of this study was to evaluate the implementation of smoke-free campuses in the hospitals of Catalonia based on both airborne particulate matter and observational data.Methods This cross-sectional study included the hospitals registered in the Catalan Network of Smoke-free Hospitals. We measured the concentration of particulate matter Results The overall median particulate matter Conclusions After the law, particulate matter < 2.5 µm concentrations were much below the values obtained before the law and below the annual guideline value recommended by the World Health Organization for outdoor settings (10 μg/m(3)). Our data showed the feasibility of implementing a smoke-free campus ban and its positive effects.