CMS followed suit this month by dropping the starting screening age to 50, and reduced the eligibility criteria from 30 pack-years down to 20. It referred its reasoning to the more than 130,000 deaths from lung cancer in 2021, which surpasses deaths due to colon, breast and prostate cancers combined, and the advantages of CT screening seen in high-profile lung cancer trials.

Nineteen states
Additionally contributing to earlier detection is a higher rate of follow-up exams for potential cancers found on scans that were meant to study other organs or diseases. The authors also say that if all eligible patients were screened with low-dose CT - which has a dose of radiation comparable to an annual mammogram - they could save up to 80% of those people.

"The real barrier is lack of screening, which is still performed at very low rates, and high costs of medications," said Taioli. "Immunotherapy, in particular, has very expensive copayments that make it difficult for low-income patients."

The findings were published this month in JAMA Network Open

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