Eligibility for lung cancer screening up with 2021 USPSTF recommendations

Expanded U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) criteria for lung cancer screening (LCS) in 2021 have resulted in a 65.9 percent increase in the number of eligible individuals, according to a research letter published online March 21 in JAMA Network Open.

Louise M. Henderson, Ph.D., from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and colleagues compared LCS prevalence in 2022 by sociodemographic characteristics and by state among individuals eligible according to 2013 and 2021 USPSTF recommendations.

The researchers found that in 2022, the weighted LCS-eligible population was 13,526,348 individuals per 2021 criteria and 8,154,440 individuals per 2013 criteria (65.9 percent increase). Using 2021 and 2013 criteria, the 2022 LCS prevalence was 16.4 and 19.6 percent, respectively; the number screened increased by 619,054. Of those newly eligible under 2021 criteria, 2,063,840 were aged 50 to 54 years and 4,020,879 had a 20- to 29-pack-year smoking history, with 6.1 and 13.1 percent, respectively, reporting LCS. Using the 2021 criteria, 2022 LCS prevalence estimates ranged from 8.6 percent in Wyoming to 28.7 percent in Rhode Island. Higher LCS prevalence rates were seen in Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states.

"Our findings suggest that updated LCS eligibility criteria may be an important first step to reducing lung cancer disparities, although screening rates remained low," the authors write. "Increasing LCS uptake nationwide should be a major public health priority."

One author disclosed ties to Bristol Myers Squibb.

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