Discussion
This study sought to determine the hypothetical effectiveness of national lung cancer screening guidelines in detecting early-stage lung cancer for a high-risk population. Patients diagnosed with early-stage lung cancer were selected as these patients have improved outcomes with treatment, and thus would theoretically benefit from early detection through screening. As expected, the study population had a majority of Black veterans (58%), with a higher proportion of Black patients in the did not meet screening criteria group compared with the met screening criteria group (68% vs 54%, P = .04). This difference highlights the concern that Black individuals were being underscreened with the 2013 USPSTF guidelines.7 This is not all surprising as the NLST, from which the initial screening guidelines were based, included a majority White population with only 4.4% of their population being Black.2 The USPSTF also cites the NELSON trial as evidence to support annual lung cancer screening, a trial that was performed in the Netherlands with a very different population compared with that of southeast Louisiana.9
Given concern that the old criteria were underscreening certain populations, the updated 2021 USPSTF guidelines sought to expand the screening population. In this study, the implementation of these new guidelines resulted in more Black patients meeting screening criteria.
Racial and ethnic disparities in health care in the US are no secret, as Black individuals consistently have increased disease and death rates, higher rates of unemployment, and decreased access to preventive medical care compared to White individuals.10 Despite the updated USPSTF guidelines, additional modifications to the screening criteria could improve the ability to identify high-risk patients. A modified model using data from the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Screening Trial (PLCO) incorporating COPD history, race and ethnicity, and personal history of cancer increased the sensitivity for high-risk Black ever-smokers.11 Additional models and analyses also support the utility of incorporating race and ethnicity in lung cancer screening criteria.7,12 Using race and ethnicity to guide screening criteria for cancer is not unheard of; in 2017, the US Multi-Society Task Force recommended that Black individuals start colon cancer screening at age 45 years rather than the typical age of 50 years, before updating the guidelines again in 2021 to recommend that all adults start at age 45 years.13,14
Limitations
This study had the inherent weakness of being a retrospective study at a single institution. Additionally, the 7th edition of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer was published in 2010, during the 2005 to 2017 time frame from which our data was collected, leading to possible inconsistencies in staging between patients before and after 2010.15 However, these changes in staging are unlikely to significantly impact the results for in this study, since the vast majority of the patients diagnosed with lung cancer stage I or II before 2010 would still be in the those 2 stages in the 2010 edition. Finally, specific to our patient population, it was often difficult to ascertain an accurate smoking history for each patient, especially in the early years of the data set, likely due to the disruption of care caused by Hurricane Katrina.
Conclusions
In this retrospective study performed at the SLVHCS in New Orleans, a significantly higher proportion of Black patients compared with White patients with early-stage lung cancer did not meet the 2013 USPSTF lung cancer screening guidelines at time of diagnosis, highlighting the concern that this population was being underscreened. These findings demonstrate the challenges and failures of applying national guidelines to a unique, high-risk population. An individualized, risk-based screening model incorporating race and ethnicity could be more effective at diagnosing early-stage lung cancer and requires more investigation. Centralized lung cancer screening programs within the VA system could also be beneficial for early detection and treatment, as well as provide insight into the increased risk within the veteran population.