• Lanwei Guo, Yue Yu, Funa Yang, Wendong Gao, Yu Wang, Yao Xiao, Jia Du, Jinhui Tian, and Haiyan Yang.
• Department of Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention, Henan Engineering Research Center of Cancer Prevention and Control, Henan International Joint Laboratory of Cancer Prevention, The Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Zhengzhou University & Henan Cancer Hospital, Zhengzhou, Henan 450008, China.
• Chin. Med. J. 2023 May 5; 136 (9): 104710561047-1056.

BackgroundScreening using low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) is a more effective approach and has the potential to detect lung cancer more accurately. We aimed to conduct a meta-analysis to estimate the accuracy of population-based screening studies primarily assessing baseline LDCT screening for lung cancer.MethodsMEDLINE, Excerpta Medica Database, and Web of Science were searched for articles published up to April 10, 2022. According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, the data of true positives, false-positives, false negatives, and true negatives in the screening test were extracted. Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2 was used to evaluate the quality of the literature. A bivariate random effects model was used to estimate pooled sensitivity and specificity. The area under the curve (AUC) was calculated by using hierarchical summary receiver-operating characteristics analysis. Heterogeneity between studies was measured using the Higgins I2 statistic, and publication bias was evaluated using a Deeks' funnel plot and linear regression test.ResultsA total of 49 studies with 157,762 individuals were identified for the final qualitative synthesis; most of them were from Europe and America (38 studies), ten were from Asia, and one was from Oceania. The recruitment period was 1992 to 2018, and most of the subjects were 40 to 75 years old. The analysis showed that the AUC of lung cancer screening by LDCT was 0.98 (95% CI: 0.96-0.99), and the overall sensitivity and specificity were 0.97 (95% CI: 0.94-0.98) and 0.87 (95% CI: 0.82-0.91), respectively. The funnel plot and test results showed that there was no significant publication bias among the included studies.ConclusionsBaseline LDCT has high sensitivity and specificity as a screening technique for lung cancer. However, long-term follow-up of the whole study population (including those with a negative baseline screening result) should be performed to enhance the accuracy of LDCT screening.Copyright © 2023 The Chinese Medical Association, produced by Wolters Kluwer, Inc. under the CC-BY-NC-ND license.

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