Lung Cancer Screening CT Carries Minimal Patient-Reported Burden, But Safety-Net Patients Fare Worse

Low-dose chest CT for lung cancer screening produced minimal testing burden overall (mean Testing Morbidities Index 97.5/100 at university vs 96.1/100 at safety-net site; p=.01), but safety-net participants reported significantly more pain/discomfort before and during the scan —…

• Prospective study at 2 sites (university + county safety-net); 468 of 505 enrolled participants completed LDCT and both questionnaires (median age 64, range 50–79).
• Safety-net participants more often reported pain/discomfort before LDCT (13% vs 6%, p=.007) and during LDCT (16% vs 8%, p=.006); marital status, employment, and insurance coverage were independently associated with testing-related morbidity in multivariable analysis.
• Key limitation: single health system (university + its affiliated safety-net), limiting generalizability; self-reported outcomes capture short-term burden only and may not reflect downstream anxiety related to follow-up findings.

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