Emergency department visits related to vaping have more than doubled across Virginia since 2020, WTOP News reported Aug.1.
Data pulled from the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association shows that since 2020, in total, the state has seen more than 1.99 million ED visits related to tobacco diagnosis and 143,511 ED visits related to vaping.
In 2020, Virginia reported 23,630 ED visits because of vaping. In 2023, that figure was 49,356 — indicating an increase of 108.87%. Meanwhile, tobacco visits in the same time period decreased 25.42% from a total of 538,802 in 2020 to 401,832 in 2023.
"It may indicate that some traditional or conventional tobacco users have switched over from smoking cigarettes or chewing tobacco to using e-cigarettes," Julian Walker, VHHA's vice president of communications, told WTOP News. "We would need to do some deeper research and data analysis to see if there is truly a causal relationship."
The trend, Mr. Walker said, is one that clinicians and hospitals throughout the state should continue to pay attention to.
"When things are bubbling up in the population, it's also going to be manifested in the patient population that ends up seeking medical care, whether it's in an outpatient setting, or in an inpatient setting [or] in [an] emergency department setting in a hospital," Mr. Walker told WTOP News.