A new study found that a “direct-to-patient digital health program can significantly increase recommended lung cancer screening for high-risk individuals.”
Lung cancer is “the leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States, yet only about 20% of eligible individuals undergo recommended screening even though early detection through screening can reduce the risk of lung cancer death.” Certain barriers to screening include “challenges identifying screening-eligible patients, which requires assessing lifetime smoking exposure” and “limited awareness of screening recommendations among patients and providers.”
The site lead for the study said the goal was to overcome those barriers by “reaching out to potentially eligible patients with an interactive digital program outside the usual outpatient visits.” The following randomized clinical trial enrolled 1,333 screening-eligible individuals. 25% of the participants using the assigned mPATH-Lung online program “completed a screening CT scan, compared to 17% in the control group,” at 16 weeks. Screening rates uniformly improved and no complications were reported.
The researchers believe the results of the study could be scalable, complementing the care “provided in regular face-to-face primary care visits.”
