I have asked our lung cancer task force to include the following statement in the comments they are submitting:
Considering radon exposure is the second leading cause of lung cancer, it would seem appropriate to allow for lung cancer screening to be made available to individuals with high radon exposure.
I don't know if it will happen, but it doesn't hurt to ask! Chrys
Chrys,
Unfortunately I do not believe they will include this because the detailed studies that were done to add this screening did not include radon, only smoking. That is why the specific ages and pack years are included as those are the only ones that showed decrease in mortality.
One option might be to try to add something about radon levels in the research area to get some new data which could justify adding radon to future screenings.
This Task Force is extremely data driven and without data on specific interventions, they will not recommend.