Barriers to lung cancer screening

Introduction: Despite efforts to improve national lung cancer screening rates, only 4 % of eligible high-risk patients pursue this opportunity annually. Objective: The goal of this study was to better understand the system, provider, and patient-level barriers to lung cancer screening Methods: 300 high-risk patients in the southern Nevada region who met the criteria for lung cancer screening were given a questionnaire during their outpatient visit for low dose chest CT from August 2023 through February 2024. Results: The most common reported barriers were absence of symptoms (38 %), not wishing to know that they had cancer (30 %), and not having awareness of the eligibility for CT screening (24 %). CONCLUSION: A multifactorial approach is indicated to provide education for high-risk patients to clarify the importance of early diagnosis, demonstrate accessibility and low cost for lung cancer screening, and absolve any misconceptions about lung cancer screening.