Efficacy of Chest Radiograph in Comparison to no Intervention in Screening for Lung Cancer in People who…

ReviewAnnals of African medicine· Aug 2026

Efficacy of Chest Radiograph in Comparison to no Intervention in Screening for Lung Cancer in People who Smoke: A Systematic Review.

Pooja Singh, Balendra Pratap Singh, Umesh Pratap Verma … Richard Kirubakaran

Cardiothoracic ImagingReviewDiagnosisQ3IF 1.0

Chest radiography did not significantly lower lung cancer detection odds in smokers

Efficacy of Chest Radiograph in Comparison to no Intervention in Screening for Lung Cancer in People who Smoke: A Systematic Review.

Pooja Singh … Richard Kirubakaran

Annals of African medicine · Aug 2026 · Q3 in General Medicine

Background

Smoking is the primary risk factor for lung cancer, which remains one of the leading causes of cancer-related mortality worldwide.

Purpose

This systematic review aimed to evaluate the efficacy of chest radiography compared with no screening for the detection of lung cancer, reduction in mortality and morbidity, screening-related harms, and quality of life among individuals who smoke.

Methods

Out of 7977 records identified, one randomized controlled trial, reported in two publications, met the inclusion criteria.

n = 7977 records

Results

cancer detection was lower with x-ray screening, but not by a meaningful margin

OR 0.50 (95% CI 0.09 to 2.74)

CI crosses the null - not significant

More results

Although chest radiography (CXR) is widely available and inexpensive, its role in lung cancer screening remains uncertain.

Quality-of-life assessments showed a transient decline following the notification of pulmonary nodules.

More results

The generalizability of the findings is limited due to the inclusion of only a single eligible study with a small sample size.

“

Conclusion

Overall, current evidence suggests that chest radiography alone does not significantly reduce lung cancer incidence and is insufficient to support its use as an effective standalone screening modality among individuals who smoke.

Efficacy of Chest Radiograph in Comparison to no Intervention in Screening for Lung Cancer in People who Smoke: A Systematic Review.

Efficacy of Chest Radiograph in Comparison to no Intervention in Screening for Lung Cancer in People who Smoke: A Systematic Review.

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