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In 2013, the US Preventive Task Force (USPSTF) and the American Cancer Society (快猫短视频) started recommending that people with a?high risk for developing lung cancer?get screened each year with low-dose CT scans (LDCT). While other cancer screening guidelines focus on people at average risk for a certain cancer, these lung cancer screening guidelines were the first to only be recommended for a high-risk group.
Since the guidelines were released, researchers began to question if the simple eligibility criteria, based only on age and smoking history, adequately selected people for screening. They were especially concerned about the inclusion of Black people for screening. Compared to a White population, Black people are diagnosed with lung cancer at a younger age and have a higher risk of developing and dying from lung cancer, yet they smoke fewer cigarettes.
In 2020, to expand the number of eligible people across all racial and ethnic groups, the USPSTF lung cancer screening guideline was adapted to recommend screening beginning at a younger age. The most recent version of the?快猫短视频 guideline?is currently being reviewed and updated, so the 快猫短视频 recommends people at increased risk for lung cancer follow recently updated recommendations from the USPSTF or other organizations.
However, many cancer screening programs were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research was needed to study how many people were getting screened under the original guidelines and how those rates have been impacted by the change in guidelines and the COVID-19 pandemic. Research was also needed to better understand the barriers to screening and racial disparities in screening rates.
Stacey Fedewa, MPH, PhD, is the senior principal scientist of?risk factors and screening surveillance research?at the 快猫短视频. Over the last year, she’s published several studies about lung cancer screening. Here are some of her findings.
The increasing, but still low, use of lung cancer screening reflects both ongoing efforts to screen eligible adults, and the many challenges to do so. Kentucky, which has supported screening implementation efforts, is unique, as its screening rates are more than twice the national average and four times that of other high lung-cancer burden states like West Virginia and Arkansas.”
Stacey Fedewa, MPH, PhD
Emory University
Previously: Risk Factors & Screening Surveillance Research, American Cancer Society
Lung cancer screening rates varied greatly by state between 2016 and 2018. Fedewa, along with 4 other 快猫短视频 researchers (Ahmedin Jemal, DVM, PhD, Helmneh Sineshaw, MD, MPH, Priti Bandi, PhD, and Robert Smith, PhD) studied data about LDCT update from 2016 to 2018 and in the summer of 2021. They learned that:
The study authors note that the increasing, but low use of lung-cancer screening reflects “both ongoing efforts to screen eligible adults and the many challenges of doing so.”
One effort that likely helped increase screening rates was that Medicare and most commercial health insurers started covering lung cancer screening in 2015. In addition, several states launched programs designed to increase lung cancer screening rates. For example, Kentucky, which had one of the highest screening rates, does not require preauthorization for LDCT, which is a known barrier to screening.
Still, there are multiple barriers that make efforts to increase screening rates challenging:
To improve lung cancer screening rates, Fedewa and her colleagues recommended “resonating messages and educational tools along with adapting the screening process to meet patients’ needs, schedules, and values.”
In 19 states, lung cancer screening rates increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. The , about how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected lung cancer screening, was also published in 2021, by the same 快猫短视频 team of Surveillance & Health Equity researchers, along with Gerard Silvestri, MD, from the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina.
This study examined annual lung-cancer screening rates before (2019) and during (2020) the pandemic both nationally and by state. The researchers found that overall national screening rates remained low and unchanged. However, their state-by-state analysis found that lung-cancer screening rates were:
As in the previous study, the authors suggest that best practices from successful state and local lung cancer screening programs could inform ongoing efforts to detect lung cancers early.
Changing lung cancer screening guidelines to include younger people has not reduced racial disparities. Fedewa and Silvestri in early 2021 about the challenges of reducing disparities in lung cancer screening.
Under the 2020 USPSTF updated guideline, an additional 6.5 million people were eligible for lung cancer screening. The increase in eligibility was across all racial/ethnic groups, with a 16% increase of eligibility for White people, 14% for Black people, 10% for Hispanic people, and 8% for Asian people.
The greater pool of those eligible for annual screening did help reduce the death rate overall and increased the number of years people with a heavy smoking history lived. But those gains did not eliminate racial disparities.
Lowering the screening age increased the number of eligible adults. But many of these newly-eligible people have Medicaid, no health insurance, or disruptions in their coverage. These circumstances are more common in minorities and are related to lower rates of cancer screening.
The ability of health providers to identify eligible adults is another barrier to lung cancer screening. For instance, providers need the time and systems in place to compute a patient’s individual risk and life expectancy, and this may be especially challenging in the under-resourced health care facilities where Black and Hispanic people frequently receive care.
Disparities in cancer treatment are also still a problem. Even when lung cancer is found at an earlier stage, it’s harder to treat than other types of cancer. And, Black people with lung cancer are less likely than White people to receive standard treatment and recommended plans of care.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of death from cancer in the United States for men and women across all major racial groups. Studies show that when people who formerly smoked or currently smoke heavily receive an annual screening with low-dose computed tomography (LDCT), they reduce their risk of dying from lung cancer by 20%. Yet screening rates are low among eligible people.
This research shows that, while increasing the number of eligible people did increase screening rates even during the COVID-19 pandemic, it did not address racial disparities in who is getting screened for lung cancer. But it also suggests that looking deeper into the differences in screening rates by state could offer valuable insight into effective strategies for increasing lung cancer screening rates, reducing disparities, and decreasing the death rate from lung cancer nationwide.
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