Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, is a long-lasting lung disease. COPD includes several long-term lung diseases, most commonly chronic bronchitis and emphysema. The Missouri Environmental Public Health Tracking (EPHT) Program provides data on emergency department and hospital visits for COPD in Missouri.
What is COPD?
COPD is a long-term lung disease that gets worse over time, making it hard to breathe. Most people with COPD have both chronic bronchitis and emphysema to some extent.
Chronic bronchitis causes swelling and a build-up of mucus in the bronchial tubes, which carry air to the lungs. Narrowing of the bronchial tubes, along with the mucus, blocks airflow and causes a cough.
Emphysema slowly damages the alveoli, which are tiny air sacs in the lung. This damage weakens and breaks the inner walls of the air sacs. When the alveoli are damaged, less oxygen can get into the bloodstream, which causes shortness of breath.
What Causes COPD?
Smoking is the main cause of COPD. About 90% of people with COPD are either smokers or used to smoke. Other things that can lead to COPD or make it worse include being around secondhand smoke, air pollution, and breathing in dust, smoke, or fumes at work.
While there's no cure for COPD, treatments like oxygen therapy, surgery, or certain drugs can help ease the symptoms. The best way to avoid COPD is to not smoke!
The American Lung Association says that women are more likely than men to have their lungs damaged by smoking and breathing in pollutants from the air.
For more information on smoking as a risk factor for COPD, visit the Bureau of Community Health and Wellness.
For more information on COPD and women’s health, visit the Section for Women’s Health.
COPD Data
The Missouri EPHT Program provides data on emergency department and hospital visits for COPD. You can search the data by age, sex, race, and ethnicity.
Search this query to find:
Annual numbers of emergency department visits and hospitalizations
Annual crude rates of emergency department visits and hospitalizations, per 10,000 residents
Annual age-adjusted rates of emergency department visits and hospitalizations, per 10,000 residents
Other Data Sources
Other data sources share additional data on COPD, including data on the number of people diagnosed and living with COPD.
- Missouri Information for Community Assessment (MICA) – Chronic Disease Query
- Missouri’s County Level Study
- CDC – National EPHT Data Explorer
Using the Data
COPD data can help you:
- See if some communities or populations are at higher risk of COPD
- See if COPD is going up or down over time
- Direct resources for preventing and controlling COPD
- See progress towards lowering COPD risks
Additional Resources