Slipping through the cracks: Who is eligible but does not receive a healthcare provider recommendation for lung cancer screening?

Introduction: Receiving a healthcare provider recommendation to screen is an important predictor for whether individuals at high risk for lung cancer undergo lung cancer screening. Although sociodemographic and socioeconomic characteristics are associated with differential screening participation, it is unknown whether those characteristics are associated with receiving a healthcare provider recommendation for lung cancer screening.

Methods: This cross-sectional study used Facebook-targeted advertising to recruit a national sample of lung cancer screening-eligible adults (N = 515) who completed questionnaires on sociodemographic information (age, gender, race, marital status), socioeconomic characteristics (income, insurance status, education, rurality of residence), smoking status, and receiving a healthcare provider recommendation to screen. Pearson's chi-square tests and independent samples t-tests evaluated whether sociodemographic, socioeconomic, and smoking-related characteristics were associated significantly with receiving a healthcare provider recommendation to screen.

Results: Higher household income, having insurance coverage, and being married were associated significantly with receiving a healthcare provider recommendation to screen (all p <.05). Age, gender, race, education, rurality of residence, and smoking status were not associated significantly with receiving a recommendation to screen.

Discussion: Particular subgroups of individuals at high risk for lung cancer-including those with lower income, without insurance coverage, and who are not married-are less likely to receive a recommendation to screen from their healthcare provider, despite being at high risk for lung cancer and eligible for screening. Future research should test whether differential screening participation and low screening uptake could be addressed by clinician-focused interventions that encourage ubiquitous discussion and recommendation to undergo screening for people at high risk for lung cancer.