Despite its proven benefits, lung cancer screening programmes do not always reach all groups equally. This means that those who are most at risk due to health inequalities may miss out on the chance to improve their outcomes.
The implementation toolkit includes strategies for overcoming barriers to specifically reach various groups. This includes:
People living in remote areas
Residents in rural areas have lower screening uptake rates. This could be due to transportation challenges, fewer healthcare facilities, and reduced awareness of screening benefits.
Socially-deprived populations
Socially-deprived populations experience lower participation rates, influenced by factors such as limited health literacy, lack of health insurance, competing life priorities, and mistrust of healthcare systems.
Ethnic minorities
Ethnic minority groups often face systemic barriers to lung cancer screening, including cultural and language differences, a lack of community engagement, discrimination, and limited healthcare access.
Women
Lung cancer has become the leading cause of cancer mortality in European women, surpassing breast cancer in some countries. Women have been shown to benefit greatly from screening in terms of reduced risk of death from lung cancer, but studies suggest they are less likely to access lung cancer screening programmes. This could be due to underestimating their risk, fewer healthcare referrals or competing life priorities.