Health advocates call for expanded lung cancer screening criteria

Advocacy groups are calling for an expansion of lung cancer screening guidelines in the United States, arguing that current protocols are too restrictive. Present guidelines limit annual low-dose CT scans to individuals with a history of smoking, a restriction that experts say excludes approximately half of all people diagnosed with the disease.

Advocates, including the Susan Wojcicki Foundation, emphasize that non-smoking factors such as family history, radon exposure, air pollution, and environmental chemical exposures significantly increase risk. The foundation notes that the social stigma surrounding smoking can delay diagnostic clarity for nonsmokers.

While lung cancer rates have declined alongside falling smoking rates, the disease remains the leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S., with an estimated 125,000 annual deaths. Experts suggest adopting tiered risk models, similar to protocols used in Taiwan, to improve early detection among nonsmoking populations.