Why So Many Women Are Missed by Lung Cancer Screening, And Why I Wouldn’t Qualify Either

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death, yet many women who develop the disease were never considered eligible for screening. Current guidelines rely heavily on smoking history, which fails to capture large groups of women whose risk comes from different exposure patterns, biology, or life history.

The result is a quiet but persistent gap: cancers are often detected later in women, not because screening doesn’t work, but because many women are never screened in the first place. This issue rarely receives sustained attention, despite its implications for early detection and survival.

For readers who want to explore this issue further:

• Full analysis:
  A detailed examination of how screening criteria developed, where they fall short for women, and why those gaps matter.


→ Link to the full TWC article