• Jerome Gnanaraj, Sardar H Ijaz, and Waseem Khaliq.
• Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
• Postgrad Med. 2023 Sep 1; 135 (7): 750754750-754.

BackgroundLung cancer screening with low-dose computer tomography (CT) has been shown to reduce the lung cancer mortality in high-risk individuals by 20%. Despite the proven mortality benefit, the utilization of lung cancer screening among high-risk populations remains low.ObjectiveThis study explores the prevalence of high-risk population for developing lung cancer among hospitalized women and evaluates the screening behavior toward other common cancers during a hospital stay.MethodsThis is a cross-sectional study in which 248 cancer-free hospitalized women aged 50-75 years who reported current or prior smoking were enrolled during hospital admission at an academic center. A bedside survey was conducted to collect socio-demographic, cancer screening behavior, and medical comorbidities for the study patients. Unpaired t-test and Chi-square tests were used to compare characteristics and common cancer screening behavior by lung cancer risk stratification.ResultsForty-three percent of the hospitalized women were at intermediate to high-risk for developing lung cancer risk. Intermediate to high-risk women were more likely to be older, Caucasian, retired, or with a disability, and had higher comorbidity burden as compared to the low-risk group. Women at low and intermediate to high risk were equally non-adherent with breast (35% vs 31%, p = 0.59) and colorectal (32% vs 24%, p = 0.20) cancers screening guidelines. Only 38% of women from the intermediate to the high-risk group had a CT chest within the last year.ConclusionThe study's findings suggest that almost half of the hospitalized women who report current or past smoking are at high-risk for developing lung cancer.

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