Surge in Virginia ER visits for vaping-related issues as traditional tobacco visits decline

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — New data from the Virginia Hospital and Health Care Association reveals a significant increase in emergency room visits associated with vaping over the past four years, while visits related to traditional tobacco products have notably decreased.

Between 2020 and 2023, the number of ER visits for vaping-related issues surged from 23,630 to 49,356. In contrast, visits for complications from traditional tobacco products fell from 538,802 to 401,832 during the same period.

Julian Walker, a representative from the Virginia Hospital and Health Care Association, emphasized the importance of contextualizing these figures.

“Even as those trend lines are moving in different directions in this data, the volume or the number of people who are using traditional products is still more significant than the number of people that are vaping, considerably more,” Walker said.

Traditional tobacco products — such as cigarettes — have been widely available for decades, but vaping products are relatively newer and less regulated.

A Tobacco Control Program epidemiologist with the Virginia Department of Health issued a statement to 8News about this shift:

Very few electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) products have been approved by the FDA. This means that many of these products have not undergone appropriate regulatory checks. Without the necessary oversight, its difficult to know what ingredients might be included in these products that could potentially contribute to the increase in emergency rooms visits with a vaping diagnosis.

Tobacco Control Program Epidemiologist/Evaluator Kyle Girone, Virginia Department of Health

Walker also highlighted the need for further research to interpret the rise in vaping-related ER visits.

“There is decades worth of research and, candidly, years worth of tobacco and smoking cessation programs, and research around those products, and public messaging, and marketing and advertising campaigns,” Walker said. “Whereas vaping is a related behavior but it’s not identical, so the research is different.”

As the landscape of tobacco and nicotine products evolves, these trends suggest a shifting pattern in usage that warrants closer examination to assess long-term health implications and regulatory needs.

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