Lung cancer screening guidelines updated by American Cancer Society to include more people

In an effort to reduce lung cancer deaths across the country, the American Cancer Society has updated its lung cancer screening guidelines.

The update comes Wednesday, Nov. 1, the start of Lung Cancer Awareness Month, and recommends yearly lung cancer screenings for people aged 50 to 80 years old who smoke or formerly smoked and have a 20-year or greater pack-year history. (Pack-years is the number of packs of cigarettes smoked per day multiplied by the number of years smoked, the organization explains.) 

This differs from previous recommendations, which covered people in the 55 to 74 year age range who currently smoked or had quit within the past 15 years and had a 30-year or greater pack-year history.