Today's study comes from the journal Lung Cancer and looks at the benefit of CT Scans to reduce lung cancer mortality. As many already know, smoking causes roughly 90% of all lung cancers, among many other terrible diseases. This particular study looked at a cohort of 7995 smokers who had a CT scan screen in New York. They compared this group to two unscreened cohorts (we'll call them A and B).
The researchers then had to do some fancy footwork to standardize the mortality ratio (to adjust for age, sex, and smoking history). The results showed a significant reduction in deaths from lung cancer. Thirty-six percent reduction from group A and 64% from group B.
So here is a case where smokers basically had a CT screening of their lungs despite having no other symptoms. These were pre-emptive, as it were. There are always discussions among lawmakers and healthcare professionals alike, as to whether we should do screening like this, because it's so expensive.
In the case of smokers, however, the evidence is pretty clear. CT screening is a great tool and can be part of a cost-avoidance strategy in this population. Ultimately though, it's better for the smoker to just stop smoking. That simple act can provide them with real disease prevention and decrease their health dollar expenditures.
