Blacks half as likely as Whites to get lung cancer screening

Among current or former smokers, Blacks were 53 percent less likely than equally healthy Whites to undergo low-dose CT lung cancer screening, in a study of more than 14,000 U.S. patients aged 55 to 79. Unfortunately, this disparity occurs “despite the potential for greater benefit of screening this population,” said researcher Alison Rustagi of the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Health System.

In the study, patients in poor health were three times more likely than healthy patients to get screened. “These results are concerning, as the long-term benefits of screening those with frail health are unknown,” the study researchers noted.

See “Benefits of CT lung cancer screening impacted by inequities” by Kate Madden Yee on the AuntMinnie website (March 31, 2022)

See the full text of the scientific paper “Likelihood of Lung Cancer Screening by Poor Health Status and Race and Ethnicity in US Adults, 2017 to 2020” by Alison S. Rustagi et al.