New lung cancer screening guidelines benefit many, Elizabeth Tracey reports

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The United States Preventive Services Task Force, or USPSTF, recently issued new guidelines on who should be screened for lung cancer. William Nelson, director of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, describes the impact.

Nelson: What this study did is it used real world data. What they found was that rather that 34 and a half thousand that would have been eligible in 2013 an additional 18 and a half thousand would be eligible under the 2021 guidelines. What is most interesting is by the new guidelines with additional people being eligible for screening, you had more women who become eligible, and more minorities including Asians, Hispanics, and African Americans.  :29

The study found that an additional 30% of lung cancers were identified at an early stage, and in people who were younger and had fewer other illnesses. Nelson says this improves their chances of long term survival. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.