A RECENT cohort study has highlighted significant disparities in comorbidity profiles among patients undergoing low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) for lung cancer screening. The Personalized Lung Cancer Screening (PLuS) cohort, encompassing 31,795 individuals across California, Florida, and South Carolina, was found to be more diverse in age, race, and comorbidity burden compared to participants of the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST).
The PLuS cohort included 49.0% of participants aged 65 years or older, a notable increase from the NLST’s 26.6%. Additionally, 23.3% of the PLuS cohort were individuals from racial and ethnic minority groups, compared to 8.5% in the NLST. The prevalence of comorbid conditions was substantially higher in the PLuS cohort, with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (32.7% vs. 17.5%), diabetes (24.6% vs. 9.7%), and heart disease (15.9% vs. 12.9%) being particularly prominent.
These findings suggest that the benefits and harms observed in the NLST may not directly translate to current clinical settings, given the increased multimorbidity and frailty among patients now undergoing lung cancer screening.
Reference: Braithwaite D et al. Burden of Comorbid Conditions Among Individuals Screened for Lung Cancer. JAMA Health Forum. 2025;6(2):e245581.
Anaya Malik | AMJ
