2021 USPSTF lung cancer screening criteria expand eligibility

(HealthDay)—The 2021 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) criteria for lung cancer screening increase eligibility compared with earlier screening criteria, with reduced racial disparity, according to a study published online Jan. 13 in JAMA Oncology.

Chan Yeu Pu, M.D., from the Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, and colleagues enrolled 912 patients with lung cancer and 1,457 controls to assess whether participants would have qualified for lung cancer screening using the 2013 USPSTF, 2021 USPSTF, and 2012 modification of the model from the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCOm2012) screening criteria.

The researchers found that of the patients with lung cancer, 65, 68, and 49 percent were eligible for screening with the 2021 USPSTF criteria, the PLCOm2012 criteria, and the 2013 USPSTF criteria, respectively. Significantly more White than African American patients with lung cancer would be eligible for screening with use of the 2013 USPSTF criteria (52 versus 42 percent). With use of the 2021 USPSTF criteria and the PLCOm2012 criteria, this racial disparity was absent. Overall, 65, 58, and 49 percent of control participants were excluded using the 2013 USPSTF criteria, the PLCOm2012 criteria, and the 2021 USPSTF criteria, respectively. Fewer White than African American control participants were excluded with the 2013 USPSTF criteria (61 versus 70 percent); this racial disparity was not seen with the 2021 USPSTF criteria and PLCOm2012 guidelines.

"Overall, this study provides us with actionable information, affirming that adjustments to lung cancer screening criteria have the potential to mitigate disparity in screening and perhaps lung cancer outcomes," write the authors of an accompanying editorial.

One author disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

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