Issa Dahabreh

MD, ScD

President and Fellows of Harvard College on behalf of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Associate Professor

PLCO (Learn more about this study)

PLCO-1130

Dec 19, 2022

Indirect comparisons of screening strategies and generalizing effects to a nationally representative population by combining trial data

The NLST compared low dose computed tomography (CT) screening versus chest radiography, while the PLCO compared chest radiography screening versus no screening, in different populations. Thus, the trial results are not directly comparable. However, it is of interest to know the effect of CT screening vs no screening, which was not evaluated in the NLST. We can indirectly compare the effect of CT screening vs no screening in the PLCO-trial eligible population.

We will also evaluate the feasibility of combining chest radiography data from the NLST and PLCO, to improve efficiency when generalizing from the trials to a nationally representative population, using other data sources, such as survey data (e.g., NHIS).

-Make indirect comparisons of the effect of CT screening vs no screening in the PLCO-trial eligible population.

-Estimate the effect of lung cancer screening in representative US target populations, using methods we have developing for transporting effects from a trial to a target population, by combining trial data or transporting the PLCO to a representative target population. We will estimate the absolute and relative rates, rate differences, and ratios for lung-cancer and all-cause mortality at a median follow-up of 6.5 years.