The mortality rate of lung cancer in Taiwan has declined for nine consecutive years, with early detection through screening the key to significantly improving survival rates, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, WHO data showed.
Nearly 2.5 million people were diagnosed with lung cancer in 2022 and more than 1.8 million people died from the disease, International Agency for Research on Cancer data showed.
Photo courtesy of Changhua Christian Hospital
In Taiwan, the standardized mortality rate of lung cancer has declined for nine consecutive years, although the disease still killed 10,348 people last year and it is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the nation, the HPA said.
The case fatality rate is relatively high, but it varies significantly based on the stage at diagnosis, it said.
In 2022, 6.2 percent of people with the disease were diagnosed at stage 0, 32.3 percent at stage 1, 3.7 percent at stage 2, 10.4 percent at stage 3 and 47.7 percent at stage 4, HPA data showed.
The five-year survival rate at stage 1 is about 90 percent, but it drops to nearly 60 percent at stage 2, nearly 30 percent at stage 3 and only about 10 percent at stage 4, showing a significant difference between early and late detection, the agency said.
Detecting lung cancer early is key to increasing survival rates, it said.
The HPA said it has expanded eligibility for government-funded low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) lung cancer screenings this year based on the recommendation of the US Preventive Services Task Force’s recommendation that heavy smokers undergo the screenings, as well as the results of a domestic study titled “Taiwan Lung Cancer Screening In Never-smoker Trial.”
With the expanded criteria, people who meet one of two high-risk criteria are eligible for a LDCT every two years, the HPA said.
The two criteria are: men aged 45 to 74 and women aged 40 to 74 who have a family history of lung cancer — meaning that a biological parent, sibling or child has been diagnosed with lung cancer; and adults aged 50 to 74 who are heavy smokers or were heavy smokers, but have not smoked for 15 years or less.
The HPA defines a “heavy smoker” as someone with a smoking history of at least 20 “pack-years,” ie, when packs of cigarettes per day and years of smoking are multiplied, it gives 20. For example, more than one pack per day for 20 years or half a pack per day for 40 years.
HPA Director-General Wu Chao-chun (吳昭軍) said that LDCT can detect early lung cancer, but it cannot reduce incidence rates, so the best prevention is to quit smoking.
Studies suggest that smokers can reduce their risk of lung cancer by 50 percent if they have quit smoking for 10 to 15 years, Wu said.
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