New report on lung cancer highlights improvements and disparities in Maryland

MARYLAND – Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths across the nation, according to the American Lung Association (ALA). The organization’s new report on the disease is highlighting improvements in Maryland. However, experts say there’s more we can all do to cut lung cancer rates.

Screening is Key

In Maryland, about 50 out of every 100,000 people will learn this year that they have been diagnosed with lung cancer. The national rate is 53.6 per 100,000, placing Maryland at 16th among 49 states.

Additionally, the state has seen an 18% improvement in lung cancer survival rates in the last five years. Doctors say that screening and early disease detection are key in improving that number even more.

“If you can screen for lung cancer and get diagnosed at an earlier stage, that is a game-changer for your options for care. It predicts a lot of your outcome,” said pulmonologist Dr. Joel Anthony Nations at the Washington D.C. Veterans Administration Medical Center.

Maryland saw a 9% improvement in early diagnosis in the past five years. The state is 23rd in the nation for lung cancer screenings. However, experts say it needs to do better in reaching populations that can often go underserved, particularly Latino individuals.

“It’s figuring out where people like to receive their messaging, how people like to receive their messaging, who they like to receive their messaging from, and trying to leverage that to talk [about lung cancer,]” said Aleks Casper, Director of Advocacy for the ALA.

Breaking Barriers to Care

And, financial barriers to early detection and treatment still stand in the way for many, but that’s changing.

“The days of all lung cancer being treated the same—we’ve passed that. And now, we have personalized medicine approaches based on a patient’s cancer cell type or biomarkers… Knowing that upfront, the treatment team can develop a plan that’s specific to that patient,” Dr. Nations explained.

In 2023, Maryland lawmakers began requiring biomarker testing to be covered by insurance. Both Dr. Nations and Casper say that has created new pathways for more people to learn they have the disease at earlier stages.

“You can test to see what molecular mutations are part of the tumor cells,” Dr. Nations said. “When you know that, you can direct therapy that takes advantage of or exploits those mutations.”

Prevention and Support for Quitting

Preventing people from smoking in the first place and helping them quit perhaps may be the most crucial in cutting back on lung cancer rates. Nationally, 12.9% of adults smoke. In Maryland, that figure is 9.6%—the second lowest in the country behind Utah.

“Anything we can do to prevent people from initiating smoking is really important,” Casper said. “It can be one of those controllable risk factors if we prevent someone from starting to smoke and get them access to cessation.”

Casper says without the proper support system, it can be very easy for those trying to turn a new leaf to fall into old habits.

“We can support people who attempt to quit because we know it’s hard. Having those resources in place to support them is important,” Casper said.

Looking Ahead

Dr. Nations, meanwhile, is eager to see how cancer treatment will continue to evolve. However, he added, it will take more than just waiting on future innovation to truly make a difference.

“One is prevention, one is early diagnosis, and the other is aimed at therapy,” Dr. Nations said. “I don’t think it’s [about] doing things differently; I think it’s [about] doing more with what we’re currently doing, which is driving change in all three of those areas.”

And as those treatments get more personalized and effective, Dr. Nations says it’s still important to have those tough, but necessary, conversations with your doctor.

“Just being told, ‘You have lung cancer,’ for some patients isn’t something they would welcome,” Dr. Nations said. “If you say, ‘You’re at risk, we screened you, and diagnosing you early really improves your outcomes,’—that’s the conversation that I think builds the trust in what screening can do for you.”