ARRS Annual Meeting: COVID-19 Impact on Lung Cancer Screening in the Bronx

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ew Orleans, LA | Leesburg, VA | May 1, 2022—A Scientific E-Poster presented during the 2022 ARRS Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA illustrated how the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affected inhabitants of underserved communities.

“Our lung cancer screening program serves a diverse, impoverished inner-city population,” said presenting author Ali Farhat of the Bronx’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, NY. “The present study evaluates the impact of COVID-19 infection in this cohort.”

Between March 2020 and June 2021, Farhat and colleagues retrospectively reviewed charts for COVID-19 infection—positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR, positive antibody test, documented infection in electronic medical record—as well as for hospitalization and mortality. The initial 3-month data were presented at the 2021 ARRS All-Virtual Annual Meeting. Noting both demographics and comorbidities, bivariate analysis evidenced a significance level of p < 0.05. 

“Approximately 9% of our diverse inner-city lung cancer screening cohort developed COVID-19 during the first 16 months of the pandemic,” Farhat et al. continued. Almost one-third of infected patients were hospitalized, and mortality measured 6.9% among infected patients. Ultimately, mortality and hospitalization were significantly associated with multiple comorbidities.

North America’s first radiological society, the American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS) remains dedicated to the advancement of medicine through the profession of medical imaging and its allied sciences. An international forum for progress in radiology since the discovery of the x-ray, ARRS maintains its mission of improving health through a community committed to advancing knowledge and skills with the world’s longest continuously published radiology journal—American Journal of Roentgenology—the ARRS Annual Meeting, InPractice magazine, topical symposia, myriad multimedia educational materials, as well as awarding scholarships via The Roentgen Fund®.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Logan K. Young, PIO

44211 Slatestone Court

Leesburg, VA 20176

703-858-4332

lyoung@arrs.org