Millions more former smokers must be regularly screened for lung cancer, American Cancer Society says – do YOU need a check-up?

Nearly five million more people are recommended to be screened for lung cancer.

The American Cancer Society (ACS) expanded its guidelines for annual lung cancer screening to include older people who smoke or used to smoke, regardless of how long ago they quit.

Now, everyone between the ages of 50 and 80 with a smoking history of at least 20 pack years (the equivalent of smoking a pack a day for 20 years) should be screened for lung cancer, no matter how long ago. who stopped smoking.

Previously, the ACS recommended annual lung cancer screening for adults ages 55 to 74 with at least a 30-pack-year smoking history and who still smoke or quit less than 15 years ago.

Pack-year history is the number of years a person smoked multiplied by the number of packs they smoked per day. A pack contains 20 cigarettes.

Someone would have a 20-year pack history if they smoked two packs of cigarettes a day for 10 years, or one pack a day for 20 years.

Dr. William Dahut, chief scientific officer of the American Cancer Society, said cnn: “I think the years I resigned were confusing for people.”

He said: “First of all, lung cancer is a disease of older people, so basically your risk starts to get higher once you’re 60, which was probably during this period when people stopped to get screening tests.

“Over time, we now see the risk continuing for men and women age 60 and older, so that’s exactly the time to screen because that’s when the risk of cancer is really highest.”

It’s the first time the ACS guidelines have been updated in 10 years, and the organization estimated that the change will prevent 21 percent more lung deaths.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the US. It is detected by low-dose computed tomography (CT).

One in six people will be diagnosed with lung cancer in their lifetime, and more than 127,000 lives are lost each year.

A recent ACS report found that young women suffer higher rates of lung cancer than men.

Men were almost twice as likely as women to develop the disease in the 1980s, due to higher rates of smoking and workplace exposure to substances such as asbestos.

But with declining cigarette smoking and safety regulations, the pattern has changed: Young and middle-aged women are now diagnosed with the disease at a higher rate than men.

In 1992 there were around 65 new cases of lung cancer per 100,000 people and in 2019 the figure had dropped to around 42.

Despite progress, a gender disparity is emerging: Women ages 35 to 54 are diagnosed with lung cancer at higher rates than men in that same age group.

Smoking remains the leading cause of lung cancer and while there have been large drops in overall smoking rates, women have been slower to quit.

By sex, about 67,000 men die each year from lung cancer compared to 59,910 women.

However, lung cancer deaths have been trending downward since the 1980s amid increased awareness of the health risks posed by cigarettes.

About 20 percent of American adults smoked in 2005, surveillance suggests, but by 2021 that number had fallen to 11.5 percent.

In some areas of the United States, such as New York City, smoking has virtually disappeared.

It’s unclear whether the vaping epidemic will cause lung cancer rates to rise again.

But several studies now suggest that those who inhale the devices are at higher risk of contracting the disease.

In 1980, the lung cancer rate among men was 52.4 per 100,000 people. For women, however, the rate was 28.4 per 100,000.