A new study is challenging long-standing assumptions about who should be screened for lung cancer. The Female Asian Nonsmoker Screening Study (FANSS) has revealed a striking detection rate of invasive lung adenocarcinoma among Asian women who have never smoked, suggesting that current screening guidelines may be missing a high-risk population.
“Historically, within the non-smoking population, Asian women are known to have higher incidences of lung cancer,” said Dr. Elaine Shum of NYU Perlmutter Cancer Center, who led the study. Of the 1,000 women screened using low-dose CT scans, 1.3% were diagnosed with invasive lung cancer—higher than the 1.1% detection rate among smokers in the National Lung Screening Trial.
Most of the cancers found were early-stage and occurred in women with no family history of lung cancer. All had at least one EGFR or HER2 driver mutation, which are known to be more common in non-smokers and Asian populations. These mutations are key targets for precision medicine therapies.
Currently, lung cancer screening in the U.S. is limited to smokers, leaving many at-risk individuals undiagnosed until late stages. “FANSS is a big first step,” Shum said, expressing hope that future studies will expand screening to other racial and ethnic groups, including Hispanic and Latino communities.
The findings underscore the need to rethink screening strategies and tailor them to genetic and demographic risk factors—not just smoking history.
See: “Lung Cancer Screening Precedent Set for Non-Smokers” (September 17, 2025)
