AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is an umbrella term used to describe progressive lung diseases including emphysema, chronic bronchitis, refractory non-reversible asthma, and some forms of bronchiectasis. In people with COPD the airways and air sacs in the lungs lose their elastic qualities and can not bounce back to their original shape and then become swollen and thicker and in some cases partially blocked or obstructed leading to difficulty breathing and ultimately to the inability to breathe.
Smoking is the main risk factor for developing COPD and second hand smoke exposure, occupational dust, chemical exposure, air pollution, and genetics are also common causes of COPD.
Nationally, the COPD Foundation reports that COPD is responsible for direct and in-direct health care related costs projected at $49.9 billion in 2010, and that 70 percent of those costs are related to hospitalizations. It is also estimated by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality that one out of five individuals over forty in the hospital have COPD. In Texas, the prevalence of COPD is 5.5 percent of the total population. COPD affects individuals across all age groups, but at even higher rates for individuals aged 55-64, at 8.1 percent and individuals 65 and over, at 13.3 percent. The American Association for Respiratory Care reports that nationally just over half of all persons with COPD report that their condition limits their ability to work and 34 percent say that COPD keeps them from working.
While there is no cure for COPD, and its lung damage is irreversible, treatments can improve a patient's quality of life by reducing frequency and severity of exacerbations, preventing symptoms from growing worse, and improving health status. Treatments for COPD include stopping smoking, removing air pollutants from home and work, and treating symptoms with medication and pulmonary rehabilitation.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that in 2011 "chronic lower respiratory diseases," which are included within the conditions under the umbrella term of COPD, are the third leading cause of death in the United States.
Many individuals who experience shortness of breath or other early symptoms of COPD mistake these symptoms as being a part of the "normal aging process" and then wait to receive treatments until the conditions are severe and the lung damage is significantly more difficult to treat and manage.
Concerted public outreach efforts such as a DRIVE4COPD, the nation's largest public awareness and screening campaign for COPD, and the NHLBI's COPD: Learn More Breathe Better Campaign, can dramatically improve public awareness of COPD.
RESOLVED
That the 83rd Legislature of the State of Texas hereby recognize Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder as a chronic health condition in Texas which contributes to increasing health care costs and decreasing productivity of its citizens.
That the 83rd Legislature of the State of Texas directs the Texas Department of State Health Services to include COPD as a chronic health condition in their efforts to address serious and chronic health conditions in Texas by seeking out and applying for funding and grants available to provide public awareness or treatment for COPD in Texas.
That the 83rd Legislature of the State of Texas directs the Texas Department of State Health Services to include COPD as a chronic health condition in their current efforts to educate the public about the effects of smoking or other preventable and treatable chronic health conditions.
That the 83rd Legislature of the State of Texas hereby designate November as COPD Awareness Month.
That in accordance with the provisions of Section 391.044(d), Government Code, the designation expires on the 10th anniversary of the date this resolution is passed by the legislature.