Patient adherence to LungRADS recommendations at an academic institution.
Authors: Yannan Lin, Tianran Zhang, William Hsu, Denise R. Aberle, Ashley Prosper
Journal: Journal of Clinical Oncology (2021)

e18592 Background: The National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) demonstrated a 20% reduction in lung cancer mortality when screened with low dose computed tomography (LDCT) as opposed to chest radiography. Notably, participants’ adherence to the screening protocol was 90%. To date, published evidence on the adherence of patients enrolled in clinical lung cancer screening (LCS) programs to LungRADS recommendations is limited. We investigate the adherence rate at our institution and determine the predictors of non-adherence to LungRADS recommendations. Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis on patients aged 50-80 years at time of baseline screen with initial screening exam at our institution between Jan 1, 2015 and Jan 12, 2021. Patients were excluded if 1) their follow-up period was insufficient to determine adherence as of Jan 28, 2021, 2) the follow-up recommendation was inconsistent with LungRADS guidelines, or 3) they died before the expected follow-up date. Adherence was defined as completion of recommended or more invasive follow-up at our institution within 12 months for LungRADS 0, 15 months for LungRADS 1/2, 9 months for LungRADS 3, 5 months for LungRADS 4A, and 3 months for LungRADS 4B/4X. A univariate logistic regression was used to determine predictors of non-adherence. Results: Among the 2120 eligible patients, 1266 (60%) were male and 854 (40%) were female with a median age of 65 at the baseline screen. One thousand four hundred and seventy-seven (70%) patients identified as White, 286 (13%) declared another racial group, and 357 (17%) did not disclose their race. One hundred and nine (5%) patients identified as Hispanic and 165 (8%) patients did not state their ethnicity. There were 1113 (53%) former smokers, 748 (35%) current smokers, and 259 (12%) patients of unspecified smoking status. Median tobacco exposure was 30 pack years (range 0.15 to 240). Fifty-seven percent of patients had private or commercial insurance while 39% had Medicare as primary insurance (3 patients were unspecified). The distribution of baseline LungRADS scores was 0: &lt; 1%, 1: 14%, 2: 71%, 3: 7%, 4A: 4%, 4B: 2%, and 4X: &lt; 1%. Overall adherence was 31% with 0: 38%, 1: 21%, 2: 27%, 3: 46%, 4A: 68%, 4B: 80%, and 4X: 100%. Of the 1463 non-adherent patients, 528 completed a follow-up exam beyond the expected date while 935 did not have any follow-up before the end of the study. Patients who were over 65 at baseline screen (OR = 1.34, 95% CI: 1.11, 1.61), former smokers (OR = 1.24, 95% CI: 1.02, 1.52), had Medicare insurance (OR = 1.35 95% CI: 1.12, 1.63), or had LungRADS 3/4 (referent: LR 1/2, OR = 4.29, 95% CI: 3.32, 5.55) were more likely to be adherent. Conclusions: Patient adherence to LungRADS recommendations at time of baseline screen in clinical practice is suboptimal, particularly among those with negative screens (LungRADS 1/2), with a non-adherence rate of &gt; 70%. Baseline LungRADS scores, age, smoking status, and insurance are predictive of LCS non-adherence.