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- Original Article -

The Efficacy of Lung Cancer Screening in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan: A Comparison of 2 Case-Control Studies Conducted in the 1980s and in the 1990s

Motoyasu Sagawa^1,2, Yasuki Saito³, Masami Sato², Satomi Takahashi⁴, Katsuo Usuda⁵, Akira Sakurada², Chiaki Endo², Hiroto Takahashi⁴, Takashi Kondo² and Tsutomu Sakuma^1
1Department of Thoracic Surgery, Kanazawa Medical University, ²Department of Thoracic Surgery, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, ³Department of Thoracic Surgery, National Sendai Hospital, ⁴Department of Surgery, Sendai Kosei Hospital, ⁵Department of Endoscopy, Toyama Medical and Pharmaceutical University

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Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of lung cancer screening. Methods: In Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, 2 case-control studies to evaluate the efficacy of lung cancer screening were conducted independently in 1988∼90 and in 1997∼99. We compared the differences in the methods and the results between the two studies. Results: The smoking-adjusted odds ratios were 0.55 in the 1980s (62 cases and 285 controls) and 0.54 in the 1990s (328 cases and 1886 controls) , respectively. After excluding sets from the 1990s-study to imitate the conditions of the 1980s-study, the odds ratio of dying from lung cancer in the 1990s changed to 0.27∼0.46. Conclusion: The mass screening program for lung cancer reduced the risk for lung cancer death in both case-control studies. The self-selection bias and/or the improvement of diagnostic/therapeutic modality for lung cancer might influence the results in the two studies.
key words: Mass screening, Early detection, Case-control study, Bias, Miyagi Program

Received: May 2, 2001
Accepted: June 6, 2001

JJLC 41 (4): 299-303, 2001