United States: New research reveals that lung cancer, which is the leading cause of cancer deaths across the United States, is less than one in five people who are eligible for early screening actually enroll for it.
It was somewhat true that people were much more informed about lung cancer screening the older they were. In the same respect, out of all the people without insurance coverage, not even 1 percent claimed they had the screening.
More about the finding
Published in JAMA Internal Medicine the study addressed data from the 2022 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, that is a cross-sectional survey.
Of the 26,000 participants who were eligible to undergo lung cancer screening, 61.5 percent stated that they continued to smoke in the present.
Only 18.1 percent of respondents said that they had had a lung cancer screening in the past year, though the response was staggered by state and was even lower across Southern states.
What more have the experts stated?
According to Priti Bandi, scientific director of cancer risk factors and screening surveillance research at the American Cancer Society, “Early detection with lung cancer screening is critical because lung cancer symptoms often don’t appear in the early stages,” as reported by Yahoo Life.
“But when diagnosed and treated early, survival is markedly improved,” she added.
Why less screening for lung cancer?
There are several theories explaining the cause. One of it as explained by Dr. Jack Jacoub, a medical oncologist and medical director of MemorialCare Cancer Institute at Orange Coast and Saddleback Medical Centers in Orange County, Calif. that health care access is one of the main causes.
He added that lung cancer screening is still relatively new in terms of recommendations,” and “It’s really only been around for a little over a decade,” as Yahoo Life reported.
Additionally, for those individuals, who are well aware about the option, yet choose to ignore the screening are mostly because of the fear of the finding that the screening might find, as explained Dr. Tawee Tanvetyanon, a medical oncologist at Moffitt Cancer Center.
He added, “They should be reassured that lung cancer that is detected from screening tests is often [at a] very early stage,” and, “It typically can be completely removed or ablated by pinpoint radiation.”