Healthcare use after screening for lung cancer

Area of Science:

• Pulmonology
• Health Services Research
• Medical Economics

Background:

• Evaluating lung cancer screening benefits requires assessing all outcomes, including healthcare utilization.
• Previous studies have not fully examined the impact of screening results on patient healthcare use.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if lung cancer screening affects healthcare use.
• Specifically, to investigate increased use among individuals with false-positive or indeterminate screening results.

Main Methods:

• 400 participants in a lung cancer screening study reported outpatient healthcare use.
• Data collected for 6 months pre-screening and 12 months post-screening.
• Repeated-measures Poisson regression analyzed changes in use across negative, indeterminate, and suspicious screening outcomes.

Main Results:

• Outpatient use increased across all screening result categories post-screening.
• The most significant increase in use was observed in the suspicious screening result group.
• Healthcare use generally returned to pre-screening levels within 6-12 months after screening.

Conclusions:

• Lung cancer screening leads to increased outpatient healthcare utilization irrespective of the screening outcome.
• The rise in lung-related visits incurs substantial costs.
• Increased lung cancer screening prevalence will likely elevate associated follow-up healthcare costs.