When it comes to detecting and treating lung cancer, Delaware is doing a better job than many other states, according to the latest “State of Lung Cancer” report from the American Lung Association.
While the report shows the state’s rate of lung cancer cases is higher than the national average, the Lung Association’s Aleks Casper says that might be due in part to Delaware’s focus on screening.
“Our screening rate is much higher than the national average, and so that means we are doing a good job of getting people screened, and that's the tool in which we use to find new cases," Casper said.
But, Casper warns, while the First State ranks fifth in the nation for high-risk screening, that doesn’t mean there’s not work to do.
"While Delaware's rate of screening is higher than the national average rate, we also have to remember that the national average is 16%," Casper said. "So that also means there's a whole lot of room to grow.”
Delaware’s Screening for Life program offers lung cancer screenings to qualified adults. The American Lung Association also has an online screening tool at savedbythescan.org.
Delaware ranked 15th in the nation for five-year survival rate, up 28% over the last five years. It ranked 18th for the number of cases not receiving any treatment, a much better score than the national average.
The state’s five-year survival rate ranks 15th in the nation, while the state’s smoking rate of 12.9% places it 22nd in the country and in line with the national average.
