WASHINGTON, D.C., April 5 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. COPD Coalition said today that the Congressional COPD Caucus being formed by Idaho Senator Michael Crapo is a major advance in the battle against COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), the fourth leading killer disease in the United States, claiming the lives of more than 119,000 Americans annually.
In a speech before a national physicians group last week, Senator Crapo announced the formation of the Congressional COPD Caucus, which is dedicated to educating Americans about COPD as well as promoting policies that improve the lives of COPD patients. Senator Crapo will chair the Congressional COPD Caucus and be joined by Senator Blanch Lincoln (D-Arkansas), Representative John Lewis (D-Georgia) and Representative Cliff Stearns (R-Florida) as co- chairs.
At the U.S. COPD Coalition’s National Conference last November, Senator Crapo announced his pledge to form the Congressional COPD caucus.
“We applaud Senator Crapo for taking the lead with Congress to form this very important group and address COPD in the United States,” said Dr. William Bailey, Professor of Medicine and Eminent Scholar Chair in Pulmonary Diseases at the University of Alabama-Birmingham and co-chair of the U.S. COPD Coalition. “We believe this caucus will help more Americans understand the risks for COPD and the signs and symptoms of the disease. This is important and will result in a significant increase in diagnosis and treatment of COPD patients.”
COPD is a devastating lung disease that progressively robs a person of the ability to breathe. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 24 million Americans suffer from COPD, but only 10 million have been diagnosed with the lung disease. The World Health Organization estimates that COPD kills more than 2.75 million people each year.
COPD is caused by exposure to certain risk factors -- particularly smoking. Symptoms of the disease, which include cough and shortness of breath, often prevent patients from performing everyday activities such as walking even short distances. The earlier COPD is diagnosed and treated, the better the prognosis is for the patient. A simple lung test called spirometry can confirm diagnosis.
According to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), COPD was responsible for 8 million physician office and hospital outpatient visits, 1.5 million emergency department visits, 726,000 hospitalizations and 119,000 deaths in 2000.
Additionally, the COPD death rate for women more than doubled between 1980 and 2000, surpassing for the first time the number of men dying from the disease. In fact from 1979 to 1999, the number of women dying from COPD rose by nearly 350 percent. COPD is a major cause of morbidity, mortality and disability in the United States and incidence of the disease continues to rise.
“If every patient over the age of 40 receives a simple breathing test, we will be able to identify and treat a large percentage of the currently undiagnosed 14 million COPD patients in this country,” said Dr. A. Sonia Buist, co-chair of the U.S. COPD Conference and Professor of Medicine at the Oregon Health & Science University. “The U.S. COPD Coalition will be available to provide our medical expertise to this area, so the group has a full understanding of the disease area and the challenges we are faced with to date.”
THE COALITION
The U.S. COPD Coalition is a partnership of more than 30 major medical and patient organizations committed to improving COPD diagnosis, care and prevention. The Coalition is dedicated to decreasing the medical, economic and social burden of COPD through programs of early detection, effective management and prevention. Further information on COPD, the U.S. COPD Coalition is available at http://www.uscopd.org/ .
U.S. COPD Coalition
CONTACT: John Ruane or Kevin Feeney, both of Ruane Communications,Inc., both for U.S. COPD Coalition, at +1-678-585-0176
Web site: http://www.uscopd.org/
