USPSTF Lung Screening Guidelines Could Miss Many High-Risk Patients

Screening patients based on their individual risk, rather than following current recommendations from the USPSTF, could save more lives, according to the results of a recent study.

The USPSTF currently recommends annual lung cancer screenings with low-dose CT for individuals aged 55 to 80 years who currently smoke or have quit within 15 years and have at least a 30-pack-year history of smoking. These recommendations, however, may miss patients who would have otherwise been selected for screening based on individual risk, according to the researchers.
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For their study, they used data from the National Health Interview Survey to examine if patients who did not meet the USPSTF eligibility criteria would be recommended for screening based upon individualized risk.

Overall, they found that the use of individualized risk would lead to the inclusion of high-risk moderate smokers with 20 to 29 pack-year histories who are otherwise ineligible based upon the USPSTF criteria. Utilizing individualized risk could have prevented more than an estimated 5000 deaths in 2015.

—Michael Potts

Reference:

Cheung LC, Katki HA, Chaturvedi AK, et al. Preventing lung cancer mortality by computed tomography screening: the effect of risk-based versus U.S. Preventive Services Task Force eligibility criteria, 2005–2015 [published online December 2, 2018]. Ann Intern Med. doi: 10.7326/M17-2067.