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Lung

The PLCO trial confirmed diagnoses of lung cancer through medical record abstraction (MRA) of participants whom the trial suspected to have lung cancer. MRA was triggered by:

  • A self-report of lung cancer on an Annual Study Update (ASU)
  • Abnormal suspicious chest x-ray screening
  • Death certificate indicates chest x-ray cancer
  • No trial indication of lung cancer, but Death Review Committee suspects lung cancer based on other indicators
  • Relative contacts screening center and informs it of participant's cancer (this is infrequent)

Note that if the MRA process does not find records indicating lung cancer diagnosis, even if a source such as a death certificate indicates lung cancer, the lung cancer is not considered confirmed.

Cancer diagnosis data can be obtained within the Lung dataset.

Summary Available Data
  • ~3700 lung cancers (300 screen-detected)
  • Intervention arm statistics:
    • ~1900 cancers
    • Median age at dx: 71
    • Median years into study at dx: 6.8
  • Control arm statistics:
    • ~1800 cancers
    • Median age at dx: 71
    • Median years into study at dx: 6.9
  • Cancer confirmation status (confirmation, report only, no cancer, etc.)
  • Days of randomization to diagnosis
  • Screen-detected versus not screen-detected
  • Staging
  • Histology