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Medicare Eligibility for Lung Cancer Screening
Do screening rates align with risk for Blacks, Hispanics?
Medicare eligibility criteria for lung cancer screening do not align with estimated risk for lung cancer among Blacks and Hispanics, according to an assessment of lung cancer risk by race, ethnicity, and sex among a nationally representative population eligible for lung cancer screening based on Medicare criteria. Researchers found:
• 24.5% of people aged 55 to 77 years who ever smoked are eligible under Medicare for lung cancer screening.
• Among those eligible, Blacks had significantly higher (4.4%) and Hispanics lower lung cancer risk (1.2%) vs non-Hispanic Whites (3.2%).
• At a cut-point of 2.12% risk for lung cancer screening eligibility, the percentage of Blacks and Hispanics showed statistically significant changes: Eligible blacks rose by 48% and eligible Hispanics declined by 63%.
• Black men and Hispanic women were affected most.
• Whites showed little change in eligibility.
Citation: Fiscella K, Winters P, Farah S, Sanders M, Mohile SG. Do lung cancer eligibility criteria align with risk among Blacks and Hispanics? PLoS One. Nov 30;10(11):e0143789. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0143789.