Abstract 1981: Promotion of LDCT screening in Northern Illinois with focus on minority communities
Authors: Barnard Jacob , Harper Emma , Lopez Edgar , Lopez Jose , Ahmad Iftekhar , Ross Joseph , Martell Sandra , Schulz William , Puri Neelu 
Published: April 2023

Background: Lung cancer is the deadliest cancer in the US. In 2022, it is anticipated that there will be 236,740 new cases and 130,180 deaths due to lung cancer in the US. Lung cancer's high mortality rate is largely due to the fact that 5.8% of eligible Americans have been screened for lung cancer, resulting in most diagnoses of lung cancer being made in late stages. As of 2020, the age-adjusted mortality rate of Winnebago and Ogle County is 26% and 40% higher than the national rate respectively. Low dose computed tomography (LDCT) is a common lung cancer screening tool utilized in clinical settings. However, minority communities have been underrepresented in the National Lung Cancer Screening Trial (90.9% white, 4.5% African American, and 1.8% Hispanic). These numbers indicate an urgent need for increased efforts to bring awareness of lung cancer risk factors and screening options to minority communities.

Hypothesis/Aim: Our aim is to promote LDCT screening in Northern Illinois, particularly in minority communities that will lead to an increase in the detection of lung cancer in early stages and improve their 5-year survival.

Study Design: This project educated the community through seminars and booths at local events to promote LDCT screening in our community. We utilized the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force guidelines to spread information to both community members and physicians in Winnebago County. We evaluated the number of LDCT screenings in Winnebago County from June 2015 to October 2021, and recorded the stages of lung cancer cases detected. We also evaluated the demographics and zip codes of the people we reached to determine their location and our efficacy in reaching minority communities.

Results: 19 seminars and 48 public awareness booths targeting an estimated 310 physicians and 2,159 community members were conducted to increase knowledge of LDCT screening. 4,557 patients underwent LDCT screening at local hospitals during the timeframe of our study. 1.77% of smokers screened in Northern Illinois were diagnosed with lung cancer in comparison with 0.87% in the NLCST. 81 patients were diagnosed with lung cancer, with 49 cases being early stage. 1,471 individuals were found to have small lung nodules and are receiving follow up care. Before LDCT screening promotion the percentage of lung cancer cases detected in early stages was 30%. After LDCT screening promotion, the percentage was 40%. In the last six months, we have reached 609 total people (17.4% black, 53.2% Hispanic, 28.4% white, and 1% other ethnicities). We were able to localize the majority of people reached to Winnebago county zip codes.

Conclusion: 49 local community members were diagnosed with early-stage lung cancer, improving their prognosis. Our promotional screening efforts have informed a higher percentage of minority groups and has increased early stage diagnoses compared to the NLCST with an increased lung cancer detection rate.

Citation Format: Jacob Barnard, Emma Harper, Edgar Lopez, Jose Lopez, Iftekhar Ahmad, Joseph Ross, Sandra Martell, William Schulz, Neelu Puri. Promotion of LDCT screening in Northern Illinois with focus on minority communities [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 1981.