Lungs Cancer Screening Can Save Smokers.
Lung cancer screening guidelines substantially expand eligibility to include younger Americans. The move is aimed at reaching more women and Black people. More than 14 million people will meet the new criteria. The former guidelines didn't recommend screenings start until age 55 and only included people who had smoked for at least 30 years. Lung cancer continues to be the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. Smoking is the top risk factor for it. Screening should be discontinued once a person has not smoked for 15 years, the new guidelines say. Lung cancer can successfully be treated when caught early enough. It is linked to almost 90% of lung cancer deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The new guidelines are aimed at women, Black people and those who develop lung cancer earlier. The USPSTF, an independent group of 16 physicians, scientists and public health experts, first proposed the new guidelines last summer. The task force noted that the screening rate among Americans remains low. One study, based on data from 10 states, found only 14.4% of people eligible for lung cancer screening had been screened in the last year. The new guidelines are published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.