England has enjoyed a dramatic fall in stillbirths since a ban on smoking in public places was introduced, researchers have reported.
The number of neonatal deaths – shortly after birth – has also fallen, according to the analysis.
Researchers said there was an 8% drop in baby death rates after the ban came into force in 2007.
It prevented smoking in work-places or in pubs and restaurants.
The Edinburgh University researchers studied 10 million births in England from 1995 to 2011.
They say that 1,500 stillbirths and deaths of new-born babies were prevented in the four years after 2007.
There were also significant reductions in the number of babies recorded as being of low birthweight – a total of 5,000 in the four years.
The findings were published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Researcher Dr Jasper Been, who is also a paediatrician at the Erasmus University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, said: "Currently, only around 18% of the world’s population is protected by comprehensive smoke-free laws.
"Accelerated action to implement smoking bans in the many countries yet to do so is likely to save considerable numbers of young lives and bring a healthier future for our unborn children."
* A study spanning 2006 to 2008 reports that the UK’s infant death rate was double that of Sweden during this period.
Reported in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, the researchers say it is "adverse social determinants of health" in the UK that underlie the relatively high death rate.
J.V.Been et al. Impact of smoke-free legislation on perinatal and infant mortality: a national quasi-experimental study. Scientific Reports 13 August 2015
Why do young children die in the UK? A comparison with Sweden Archives of Disease in Childhood 14 August 2015; doi 10.1136/archdischild-2014-308059 [abstract]
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