Lung cancer screening eligibility expanded by USPSTF
ZUR SOFORTIGEN VERÖFFENTLICHUNG
Kontakt: Lisa Berry Edwards
703-519-2107
Lisa.Edwards@preventcancer.org
Alexandria, VA—The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) today released new guidelines on lung cancer screening. The USPSTF gave a “B” grade for lung cancer screening for people ages 50-80 with a 20 pack-year history who currently smoke or have quit within the last 15 years. (A “pack-year” is the equivalent of smoking one pack per day for a year.) Under the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies must cover screening services given an “A” or “B” grade from the USPSTF.
In previous recommendations published in 2013, the USPSTF recommended lung cancer screening for those ages 55-80 with a 30 pack-year history. By lowering the eligible screening age and smoking criteria, the USPSTF has effectively expanded screening access to millions more smokers or former smokers. According to The Washington Post, the change means that 15 million people will now be eligible for lung cancer screening.
The Foundation applauds the USPSTF for expanding access to screening with these new guidelines. However, in our comments to the USPSTF submitted last year based on then-draft guidelines for lung cancer screening, we urged the USPSTF to go even further by expanding the “look-back” requirement for former smokers (currently 15 years) and including additional risks for lung cancer in the eligibility guidelines, such as environmental tobacco smoke and risks not related to tobacco, such as occupational exposures and exposure to radon. Implementing these changes would go further in expanding access to screening and reducing lung cancer health disparities for Black people and women.
Die Stiftung Prevent Cancer® has long been an advocate for lung cancer screening. In 2000, the Foundation launched the Millennium Lung Cancer Workshop (now the Workshop zur quantitativen Bildgebung), which led to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) undertaking the National Lung Cancer Screening Trial. This is the largest clinical trial ever sponsored by the NCI. The trial proves that lung cancer screening of high-risk individuals can reduce lung cancer mortality by at least 20%.
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Über die Prevent Cancer Foundation®
Die Stiftung Prevent Cancer® feiert sein 35-jähriges Bestehen als einzige gemeinnützige Organisation in den USA, die sich ausschließlich auf die Rettung von Menschenleben in allen Bevölkerungsgruppen durch Krebsvorsorge und Früherkennung konzentriert. Durch Forschung, Aufklärung, Öffentlichkeitsarbeit und Interessenvertretung haben wir unzähligen Menschen geholfen, eine Krebsdiagnose zu vermeiden oder ihren Krebs früh genug zu erkennen, um erfolgreich behandelt werden zu können.
Die Stiftung stellt sich der Herausforderung, die Zahl der Krebstoten bis 2035 um 401 TP3T zu senken. Um dieses Ziel zu erreichen, haben wir uns verpflichtet, 1 TP4T20 Millionen in innovative Technologien zur Krebsfrüherkennung und zur Verbesserung des Multi-Krebs-Screenings zu investieren, 1 TP4T10 Millionen in die Ausweitung des Zugangs zu Krebsscreenings und Impfungen auf medizinisch unterversorgte Gemeinden und 1 TP4T10 Millionen in die Aufklärung der Öffentlichkeit über Screening- und Impfmöglichkeiten.
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