Benefits of Including More Black Individuals in Lung Cancer Screening

In the randomized National Lung Screening Trial (NLST), screening by low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) was associated with a 20% relative reduction in lung cancer death compared with screening by chest radiography (NEJM JW Gen Med 2011 Aug 1 and N Engl J Med 2011; 365:395). Only 4.4% of the NLST study population was Black. Given that Black individuals have the highest rates of lung cancer death, understanding whether findings would differ if the proportion of Black individuals in the screening population was higher is of interest. In this secondary analysis of NLST data, researchers used statistical modeling to estimate screening outcomes in hypothetical populations with varying distributions of Black individuals, women, and current smoke…