Lung cancer incidence, 2019–2020, United States: The potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose

Cancer incidence declined during the COVID-19 pandemic in part due to health care delivery challenges. We examined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on changes in lung cancer incidence.

Methods

We used 2019–2020 US Cancer Statistics data from 49 cancer registries covering 97 % of the US population. We calculated the number of new lung cancer diagnoses in 2019 and 2020, age-adjusted lung cancer incidence rates per 100,000 persons, and 2019-to-2020 % changes in incidence rates. We also calculated number and percentage of new lung cancer diagnoses by month and stage at diagnosis.

Results

The age-adjusted lung cancer incidence rate per 100,000 persons was 47.9 in 2019 vs. 41.4 in 2020—a 13.6 % decrease. Differences in the percentage change in incidence rates were observed by age, race and ethnicity, US census region, histology, and stage at diagnosis. A higher percentage of people were diagnosed at distant stage in 2020 than 2019.

Conclusions

This report provides new insight into subgroups that experienced the greatest decline in observed lung cancer incidence during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings can be used to inform intervention efforts to improve lung cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment.