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.