Vape-related hospitalizations rising
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - Hospitals are seeing more and more patients with ailments triggered or worsened by vaping or e-cigarettes.
New data from the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association, or VHHA, shows emergency department visits that resulted in a diagnosis due to vaping have increased drastically in recent years.
The data looks at emergency department, or ED, visits from 2020 to 2023 in Virginia. According to the data, vaping-related visits doubled in that span.
“That number is on the rise and has been steadily and consistently on the rise for the last four years,” VHHA Vice President of Communications Julian Walker said.
Walker says the amount of ED visits related to vaping in Virginia went from more than 23,000 to more than 49,000 during those four years.
“That is a 108% increase over that period of time,” Walker said.
Dr. Chris Holstege with UVA’s Blue Ridge Poison Center says that trend matches what its been seeing.
“In 2020, we had 27 calls reported to regarding vaping products,” Dr. Holstege said. “2021, there were 26, but 2022 we had 73 and last year in 2023, we had 99 calls related to vaping products. Now, these aren’t massive numbers, but the trend is certainly an upward trend.”
Dr. Holstege says many times people don’t even realize vaping is what’s causing issues.
“You have a component of this where people come in, and it’s specifically related to the vaping, and they’re having coughing or shortness of breath,” Dr. Holstege said. “But you also have the other that it’s uncovered that they may have come down with an infection, and they are vaping. Also that comes out associated.”
As for Sentara Martha Jefferson, Pulmonary Care Physician John Watson says there hasn’t been any noticeable spikes in cases related to vaping.
“We probably saw more cases of EVALI, which is e-cigarette and vaping-associated lung injury, back in 2019,” Dr. Watson said. “I haven’t seen any kind of wave. Lately, at least not within the last year, there’s sort of a steady trickle. But it isn’t very frequent, fortunately.”
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