Using Social Media as a Platform for Increasing Knowledge of Lung Cancer Screening in High-Risk Patients

IntroductionThe improvement of low-dose CT (LDCT) lung cancer screening selection criteria could help to include more individuals who have lung cancer, or in whom lung cancer will develop, while avoiding significant cost increase. We evaluated baseline results of LDCT lung cancer screening in a population with a heterogeneous risk profile for lung cancer.MethodsLDCT lung cancer screening was implemented alongside a preventive health programme in a private hospital in Brazil. Individuals older than 45 years, smokers and former smokers, regardless of tobacco exposure, were included. Patients were classified according to the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) eligibility criteria and to PLCOm2012 6-year lung cancer risk. Patient characteristics, CT positivity rate, detection rate of lung cancer and false-positive rate were assessed.ResultsLDCT scans of 472 patients were evaluated and three lung adenocarcinomas were diagnosed. CT positivity rate (Lung-RADS 3/4) was significantly higher (p=0.019) in the NLST group (10.1% (95% CI, 5.9% to 16.9%)) than in the non-NLST group (3.6% (95% CI, 2.62% to 4.83%)) and in the PLCOm2012 high-risk group (14.3% (95% CI, 6.8% to 27.7%)) than in the PLCOm2012 low-risk group (3.7% (95% CI, 2.9% to 4.8%)) (p=0.016). Detection rate of lung cancer was also significantly higher (p=0.018) among PLCOm2012 high-risk patients (5.7% (95% CI, 2.5% to 12.6%)) than in the PLCOm2012 low-risk individuals (0.2% (95% CI, 0.1% to 1.1%)). The false-positive rate for NLST criteria (16.4% (95% CI, 13.2% to 20.1%)) was higher (p<0.001) than for PLCOm2012 criteria (7.6 (95% CI, 5.3% to 10.5%)).DiscussionOur study indicates a lower performance when screening low-risk individuals in comparison to screening patients meeting NLST criteria and PLCOm2012 high-risk patients. Also, incorporating PLCOm2012 6-year lung cancer risk ≥0.0151 as an eligibility criterion seems to increase lung cancer screening effectiveness.

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Using social media and direct marketing as a platform to increase awareness of lung cancer screening in a Hispanic urban population in the post-COVID period.

Journal of Clinical Oncology ◽

10.1200/jco.2020.39.28_suppl.339 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 39 (28_suppl) ◽

pp. 339-339

Author(s):

Estelamari Rodriguez ◽

Samantha Dawkins ◽

Santhy Rodriguez ◽

Marie Jeannette Jeanette Charles ◽

Amber Thomassen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Lung Cancer ◽

Social Media ◽

Cancer Screening ◽

High Risk ◽

Direct Marketing ◽

Lung Cancer Screening ◽

Direct Mail ◽

Web Pages ◽

Awareness Campaign ◽

Marketing Campaign

339 Background: Uptake in lung cancer screening (LCS) in high-risk patients including minority populations has been low despite efforts to increase awareness in the community. During the COVID pandemic, most LCS programs were temporarily stopped and, in the months to follow experienced a significant reduction in referrals. Platforms including social media and direct mail marketing can provide a valuable tool to enhance patient engagement related to LCS and engagement of Hispanic populations who are active consumers of digital media. The objective of this study was to assess the short-term effectiveness of a targeted LCS digital and direct marketing campaign to increase visits to the institutional online educational content and referrals to a LCS program. Methods: A LCS marketing campaign including social media utilizing Facebook and Instagram platforms with programmatic banners, boosted organic social media posts, plus direct mail-in marketing in Spanish and English was started in the post-COVID period. A CRM (customer-relationship management) software was used to target adults ages 50-80, current or former smokers, who speak English and/or Spanish in the Miami tri-county area over a three-month period by a direct-mail campaign. Other campaign targeting qualifications included family history of lung cancer, and additional lung cancer risk factors including asbestos, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or emphysema. The CRM Direct mail campaign was sent 87,000 leads by postcard and 65,810 leads by email. Primary outcomes measures were visits to the University of Miami institutional LCS Web page, LDCT ambulatory referrals, and scheduled initial LDCT exams. Study period was baseline pre-COVID period (6/1/2019-12/31/2019), COVID-period (3/1/2020-9/31/2020) and digital awareness campaign in the post-COVID period (12/1/2020-5/31/2020). Results: Unique pageviews to the institutional LCS web pages were significantly higher during the digital awareness campaign compared to the pre-COVID period (8,805 vs 230 pageviews) with a high bounce rate during the campaign period of 79% and average time in site of 2:21 minutes. Mean scheduled initial LDCT volumes per month during the pre-COVID period were 12.4 (SD 4.6), versus 4.1 (SD 2.5) during the COVID period. There was a 3-fold increase in initial LDCT scans during the initial campaign period from 4.1 in the COVID period to 11.6 (p <.001). The mean number of LDCT ambulatory referrals doubled from 17.5 in the COVID period to 34.2 in the campaign period (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Implementation of a targeted LCS digital awareness campaign and direct mail marketing was associated with increased visits to institutional education Web pages, ambulatory referrals, and initial LDCT exams. Digital platforms are an important tool to enhance awareness of lung cancer screening in high-risk populations and Hispanics.

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Determining the perception of a lung cancer screening programme among high-risk patients in a tertiary referral centre, Kuala Lumpur

Proceedings of Singapore Healthcare ◽

10.1177/2010105819891743 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 29 (1) ◽

pp. 19-24

Author(s):

Wei Hao Kok ◽

Andrea Ban Yu-Lin ◽

Shamsul Azhar Shah ◽

Faisal Abdul Hamid

Keyword(s):

Lung Cancer ◽

Cancer Screening ◽

High Risk ◽

Screening Programme ◽

Lung Cancer Screening ◽

High Risk Population ◽

Willingness To Participate ◽

Tertiary Referral Centre ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Cancer Screening Programme

Background: Lung cancer is the second most common cause of cancer-related death and the third most common cancer in Malaysia. The rising prevalence of lung cancer suggests the need to consider disease screening for early detection, especially in the high-risk population, as it offers the best chance of cure. Objectives: The study aims to determine the willingness of high-risk respondents to participate in a lung cancer screening programme if made available to them, and to determine their attitude towards lung cancer screening and explore factors that might affect participation in a screening programme. Method: This is a cross-sectional, descriptive study over 6 months conducted in adult patients attending medical clinics in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC) using face-to-face administered questionnaires. Results: In total 180 respondents were analysed. There were 177 (98.3%) males. Mean age was 59.8 ± 9.1 years. Of the respondents, 138 (76.7%) had poor knowledge about cancer screening. Former smokers comprised 119 (66.1%) of the participants, and 61 (33.9%) were current smokers. In total, 141 (78.3%) respondents indicated willingness to participate in a lung cancer screening programme. Out of this group, 68 (48.2%) respondents were unwilling to pay for the procedure. Only 18 (12.8%) were unwilling to undergo lung cancer treatment if detected early. Conclusions: Awareness about general cancer screening is low. Our study showed that when informed of their high-risk status, respondents were willing to participate in lung cancer screening. There should be more health programmes to promote and raise awareness about lung cancer.

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