New lung cancer screening eligibility criteria can eliminate the racial disparities in who qualifies for screening. Researchers applied the new criteria to a past study of nearly a thousand lung cancer patients in the Detroit, Michigan, area.
Under the old criteria, 52% of White patients vs 42% of Black patients would have been eligible for screening. Under the new criteria adopted by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force in 2021, 65% of White patients and 63% of Black patients qualified, essentially eliminating the disparity.
- See “Do 2021 USPSTF Lung Cancer Screening Criteria Eliminate Racial Disparities?” by Sheila Jacobs on the Pulmonary Advisor website (February 23, 2022)
- See the abstract of the scientific paper “Comparison Between the 2021 USPSTF Lung Cancer Screening Criteria and Other Lung Cancer Screening Criteria for Racial Disparity in Eligibility” by Chan Yeu Pu et al.
