Overview
- Sixty‑eight of the Netherlands’ 78 emergency departments are participating in the 24‑hour study coordinated by Leiden University Medical Center.
- All patients attending today are given a questionnaire on smoking, vaping and snus, brief cessation advice, and referrals to stop‑smoking care when appropriate.
- Clinicians aim to quantify the share of acute presentations potentially linked to nicotine, reflecting frequent ED visits tied to long‑term smoking such as COPD, heart problems and strokes.
- Hospitals are using the effort to proactively engage patients and initiate low‑threshold support to quit without requiring patients to arrange follow‑up themselves.
- Researchers expect several weeks of analysis with results due in about a month, as rising youth vaping remains a concern highlighted by Trimbos data.