A new study suggests that using a risk-based model for lung cancer screening could help reduce racial and ethnic disparities in screening eligibility and improve overall screening efficiency across diverse populations in the United States.
Researchers led by Summer S. Han, PhD, examined data from over 100,000 participants in the Multiethnic Cohort Study to evaluate the performance of risk-based lung cancer screening compared to current guidelines.
The study, published in JAMA Oncology, found that the PLCOm2012 risk prediction model showed promising predictive performance across racial and ethnic groups, though it underestimated risk for some populations.
When researchers recalibrated the model (PLCOm2012-Update), it improved equality of results across all races and ethnicities studied. Using this risk-based approach significantly reduced the disparity in screening eligibility between African Americans and White individuals compared to current U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) criteria.
“Risk-based lung cancer screening using a validated risk prediction model may help reduce racial and ethnic disparities in lung cancer screening and improve screening efficiency across racial and ethnic groups in the US,” the researchers concluded.
The study included African American, Japanese American, Latino, Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander, and White participants. Under current USPSTF guidelines, screening eligibility varied widely between groups, with only 15.7% of Latinos eligible compared to 30.2% of White patients.
This research highlights the potential for risk-based screening models to address longstanding racial disparities in lung cancer detection and prevention.
See “Risked-Based Lung Cancer Screening Helps Reduce Disparities” (July 2, 2024)
