Lung Cancer Screening in Brazil Needed to Save Lives

Low-dose computed tomography (CT) can reduce the number of deaths from lung cancer in Brazil, showed a recent study that compared US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) 2013 guidelines and USPSTF 2021 guidelines.

In addition, the team of researchers, led by Isabel Cristina Martins Emmerick, determined that lung cancer deaths were higher in Black people, people with less than a high school education, and people living in the North and Northeast regions of the country.

Currently, there is not a lung cancer screening policy in Brazil. Thus, this study, which included more than 27 million ever-smokers aged 50 to 80 years old who were either Asian or Indigenous, Black, Pardo, or White, reviewed the number of individuals eligible for screening based on USPSTF guidelines, 5-year preventable lung cancer deaths, and years of life gained (YLG) if lung cancer death was averted by screening.

When using USPSTF 2013 guidelines (ever-smokers aged 55 to 80 years with ³30 pack-years and <15 years since cessation), 5,144,322 people met the criteria for lung cancer screening. However, using 2021 guidelines (ever-smokers aged 50 to 80 years with 20 pack-years and <15 years since cessation), more than 3 million more people (n=8,380,279) were eligible for screening.

In addition, the number needed to screen to prevent one death was 177 individuals according to the USPSTF 2013 criteria and 242 individuals according to the USPSTF 2021 criteria.

For all ever-smokers, the YLG was 23. That number was 19 for the USPSTF 2013 criteria and 21 for the USPSTF 2021 criteria.

Overall, the researchers concluded that the USPSTF 2021 criteria were better than the USPSTF 2013 criteria in reducing disparities in lung cancer death rates.