Targeting women eligible for both lung and breast cancer screening pays off
Targeting women who are eligible for both lung and breast cancer screening pays off, according to new research.
Numerous studies have explored poor LCS adherence, a problem less pronounced in screening mammography. One previous study estimated about 58% of LCS-eligible women reported having a mammogram over the past two years versus just 8% who underwent low-dose CT for lung cancer.
This presents a potential opportunity, experts detailed Dec. 1 in the Journal of the American College of Radiology. Researchers at two academic medical centers recently aimed to leverage mammography adherence to bolster LCS uptake and are finding success, with a significant uptick in total LDCT examinations.
“It has been more than 10 years since annual screening for lung cancer was recommended, and screening rates still are disappointingly low. There are many reasons for these low rates, but mostly identifying eligible individuals is challenging in the primary care setting, and there is evidence showing a surprising lack of awareness about lung cancer screening among eligible individuals,” study co-investigator Robert Smith, PhD, with the American Cancer Society, which funded the analysis, said in a statement. “There is enormous potential here, and the ACS is thrilled with the outcome of this study.”
For the analysis, mammography participants at two hospitals were evaluated for potential LCS eligibility between 2019 and 2022. Out of over 32,000 women pinpointed, about 5% were confirmed as candidates for lung cancer screening, and 69% (or about 1,100) had not previously undergone LCS. At one of the centers, a research team from pulmonary medicine contacted patients directly to inform then about eligibility. They also conducted surveys at mammography locations about smoking history. This team had targeted an enrollment of 200 new patients for LCS but exceeded that figure by enrolling 214.
Meanwhile at the other hospital, researchers from the radiology department identified patients eligible for LCS one month before their mammography appointments using electronic health records. Women were then offered the opportunity to have both screenings on the same day, at the same location. This group also exceeded their target (322), enrolling a total of 445 patients.
Baseline LCS scans per month increased from 12 to 28 at the first site and 18 to 38 at the second, the study found. Meanwhile, there was no corresponding measurable change in baseline LCS exams among men at either institution during the same time frame.
“It is imperative that women at high risk for lung cancer are enrolled in a lung screening program through targeted intervention strategies,” the study’s authors advised. “By focusing on women engaged in screening mammography, common behavioral and socioeconomic barriers to screening (i.e., insurance coverage and transportation) in some instances will have already been overcome,” they added later.
Read much more in the December issue of JACR. Vanderbilt University Medical Center, which was one of the study sites, announced the results on Dec. 3.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.