medwireNews: US research suggests that the expansion of the US Preventive Services Taskforce (USPSTF) eligibility criteria for lung cancer screening in 2021 may be helping to lessen racial disparities in the uptake of screening.
The changes introduced to the 2013 recommendations in March 2021 lowered the minimum age from 55 to 50 years and reduced the smoking intensity from 30 to 20 pack–years.
It was thought these changes could improve screening eligibility among previously underscreened populations, such as African–American and Hispanic individuals and women, which is partially borne out by the results of the current study, say the researchers.
In a cohort of 815 individuals (average age 63.7 years) screened through a centralized program at a US institution between March and December 2021, there was a significantly higher proportion of African Americans among the subgroup that was eligible for screening as per the USPSTF 2021 criteria (n=161) than the 2013 criteria (n=654), at 54.0% versus 39.5%.
Also, a significantly greater proportion of people in the 2021- than 2013-eligible subgroup reported being current smokers, at 65.2% versus 55.0%.
But there were no significant differences by sex, educational attainment, or Lung Imaging Reporting and Data System results, report Julie Barta and colleagues, from Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
They write in a research letter to JAMA Network Open that “[e]xpansion of screening criteria is a critical first step to achieving equity in [lung cancer screening] for all high-risk populations, but myriad challenges remain before individuals enter the door for screening.”
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