Effectiveness of a single low‐dose computed tomography screening for lung cancer: A population‐based perspective cohort study in China

Abstract The purpose of this perspective cohort study was to evaluate the effectiveness of low‐dose computed tomography (LDCT) screening for lung cancer in China. This study was conducted under the China Urban Cancer Screening Program (CanSPUC). The analysis was based on participants aged 40 to 74 years from 2012 to 2019. A total of 255 569 eligible participants were recruited in the study. Among the 58 136 participants at high risk of lung cancer, 20 346 (35.00%) had a single LDCT scan (defined as the screened group) and 37 790 (65.00%) not (defined as the non‐screened group). Overall, 1162 participants were diagnosed with lung cancer at median follow‐up time of 5.25 years. The screened group had the highest cumulative incidence of lung cancer and the non‐screened group had the highest cumulative lung cancer mortality and all‐cause cumulative mortality. We performed inverse probability weighting (IPW) to account for potential imbalances, and Cox proportional hazards model to estimate the weighted association between mortality and LDCT scans. After IPW adjusted with baseline characteristics, the lung cancer incidence density was significantly increased (37.0% increase) (HR1.37 [95%CI 1.12‐1.69]), lung cancer mortality was decreased (31.0% decrease) (HR0.69 [95%CI 0.49‐0.97]), and the all‐cause mortality was significantly decreased (23.0% lower) (HR0.77 [95% CI 0.68‐0.87]) in the screened group. In summary, a single LDCT for lung cancer screening will reduce the mortality of lung cancer and all‐cause mortality in China.