Plain language summary and patient perspective of the 2020 lung cancer screening recommendations by the US Preventive Services Task Force
Abstract
What is this summary about?
This summary describes the research carried out by the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF for short) during a review and update of their lung cancer screening recommendations made in 2013. The USPSTF reviewed the results of clinical studies that used a type of scan called low dose computed tomography (LDCT for short). They wanted to see how successful LDCT was at finding lung cancers in people who hadn't shown any physical signs of lung cancer, but had a history of smoking and were over 50 years of age.
What were the results?
The review found that performing yearly LDCT scans in people who are at high risk of developing lung cancer is beneficial, as it means that some patients will be diagnosed earlier than they would be without this type of screening. People considered to be at high risk of developing lung cancer include:
Adults aged 50 to 80 years who have smoked a pack of 20 cigarettes per day for 20 years or two packs per day for 10 years; OR
Adults aged 50 to 80 years who currently smoke or have stopped smoking within the last 15 years.
What do the results of the study mean?
The information gained from reviewing the research enabled the USPSTF to update their lung cancer screening recommendations.
To read the full Plain Language Summary of this article, click here to view the PDF.
Link to original article here
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2777244
Acknowledgments
This article was selected by a Steering Committee, put together by the Future Science Group, who identified specific articles to be explained as a plain language summary to help educate about the latest developments in non-small cell lung cancer. The authors would like to thank the Steering Committee for their role in this selection process. Medical writing assistance was provided by Catherine Barras, MSc and Danielle Birchall, MRes MICR, of Simplifying Science® and was supported financially by Future Science Group, through an Independent Medical Education Grant provided by Pfizer, Inc. Simplifying Science® is a registered trademark in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Trademark No. UK00003709258. Owned by and registered to Lay Writing Services Ltd.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
The Steering Committee were compensated for their time in the process of article selection as described above. The authors did not receive payment related to the development of the plain language summary of publication.
Open access
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
