Fewer Dutch smokers seek GP help to quit since pandemic, study finds

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, fewer people in the Netherlands have been visiting general practitioners to quit smoking, according to research by Nivel, the Dutch institute for health services research.

Nivel’s study on primary care during and after the pandemic found that, overall, it has not caused lasting disruptions to general practitioner services. While GP practices saw a sharp drop in patients at the start of the pandemic, contact levels later largely returned to pre-pandemic levels.

However, one notable exception is patients seeking help to stop smoking. Before the pandemic, smokers increasingly turned to their GP for support. At the start of the pandemic, this trend reversed, and the number of contacts has not recovered.

“In 2023, the number of consultations with GPs for quitting smoking was even lower than at the beginning of the measurement period in 2014,” Nivel said. “This decline is difficult to explain and cannot be attributed to changes in reimbursement for smoking cessation support or cessation aids, such as medication or nicotine replacement products.”

The institute added that it had expected an increase since more support has been covered by the basic health insurance since 2020.

Nivel also noted that the overall smoking rate among adults has not dropped dramatically. Between 2019 and 2023, the proportion of adult smokers fell slightly from 21.7 to 19 percent. During the same period, vaping increased, which also delivers the addictive substance nicotine.

Beyond smoking cessation, Nivel’s research indicates that patients have also been visiting GPs less frequently for issues related to education, work, or social problems since the pandemic.