COIOS
Healthcare today Item confirms peer-reviewed

Lung screening invitations in Scotland drew a 24% response, lowest in deprived areas

Inviting people with a recorded smoking history from Scottish primary care records to a lung health check produced a 23.8% response across four health boards, lower in more deprived practices, and non-responders were more often current smokers (69.3% vs 49.8%).

A pilot across four Scottish health boards invited 2801 people aged 50-74 with a smoking history recorded in primary care records to a risk-stratified low-dose CT lung screening pathway. Of 668 responders (23.8%), 503 met a high-risk criterion and 436 were scanned; lung cancer was found in 1.15%, with coronary artery disease in 56.4% and emphysema in 33%. Response varied from 17.8% to 38.1% between practices and non-responders were more likely to be current smokers.

Why it is interesting: Shows the yield of record-based lung screening recruitment while quantifying the inverse relation between smoking status, deprivation and uptake.

Source
BMJ open, 2026-09-15
DOI
10.1136/bmjopen-2026-120569
Type
Peer-reviewed article
Design
Prospective multicentre pilot feasibility study, 2801 invited, 436 scanned, four Scottish health boards
Verdict
Confirms prior evidence
Driver
Cancer
Driver
What changes behaviour at scale