☰ Table of contents
Recommendations: Prevention of lung cancer
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Preventive intervention type
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Who is at risk?
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What should be done?
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How often?
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Level/ strength of evidence
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References
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Screening
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Asymptomatic adults, including people who smoke or who are ex-smokers |
Population-based screening of either high-risk or low-risk people with either chest X-ray or low-dose computed tomography (CT) is not recommended at this time.
Further evidence from screening studies in high-risk individuals may change this recommendation in the future |
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IID |
125–127 |
Behavioural
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Provide lifestyle risk factor counselling on the benefits of avoiding smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke (refer to Chapter 1: Lifestyle, ‘Smoking’) |
At least during annual health assessment; refer to Chapter 1: Lifestyle, ‘Smoking’ |
III–IIB |
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Background
Lung cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, with an incidence rate two times that of non-Indigenous people, and a mortality rate that is 1.8 times higher. This is highly correlated with higher rates of smoking in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations compared to non-Indigenous populations.3
Interventions
Smoking cessation: Tobacco smoking is the major contributor to lung cancer. Smoking cessation and reducing exposure to second-hand smoke decreases the risk of developing lung cancer (refer to Chapter 1: Lifestyle, ‘Smoking’).
Neither low-dose CT scanning nor chest X-ray are currently recommended for population-based screening for lung cancer in Australia.125–127 One large randomised controlled trial from overseas found that screening people at high risk of lung cancer (people aged 55–74 years with a 30-year pack history of smoking and either currently smoking or ceased within the last 15 years) with low-dose CT reduces lung cancer mortality and, to a lesser degree, all-cause mortality.128 A meta-analysis of nine trials (including this trial), however, found a non-significant trend to reduced lung cancer mortality.128 However, there were methodological weaknesses in several of the trials included in these analyses, and further studies are underway.129 While lowdose CT scanning has been recommended by the US Preventive Services Task Force, the cost-effectiveness of implementing this screening strategy has not been assessed.130,131 The applicability of low-dose CT population-based screening for lung cancer in Australia is unknown at this stage and is not recommended at present in Australian guidelines due to the uncertainty of the target population, the health benefit versus harms, and the cost-effectiveness of this screening in the Australian population.127
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