In Mexico, there are at least 5,264,342 individuals who qualify as high-risk population defined by the NCCN Guidelines Lung Cancer Screening. Of this vulnerable population, 58% are beneficiaries of IMSS (Mexico’s public health organization). (These numbers were estimated using data from INEGI, IMSS, ENSANUT and NCCN)

Barrera-Núñez, D. A., López-Olmedo, N., Zavala‐Arciniega, L., Barrientos‐Gutiérrez, I., & Reynales-Shigematsu, L. M. (2023). Consumo de tabaco y uso de cigarro electrónico en adolescentes y adultos mexicanos. Ensanut Continua 2022. Salud PúBlica De MéXico (Impresa), 65, s65–s74. https://doi.org/10.21149/14830

INEGI. (2024). ESTADÍSTICAS A PROPÓSITO DEL DÍA MUNDIAL CONTRA EL CÁNCER. INEGI. https://www.inegi.org.mx/contenidos/saladeprensa/aproposito/2024/EAP_CANCER24.pdf

Wood, D. E., Kazerooni, E. A., Aberle, D. R., Berman, A. T., Brown, L. M., Eapen, G. A., Ettinger, D. S., Ferguson, J. S., Hou, L., Kadaria, D., Klippenstein, D., Kumar, R., Lackner, R. P., Leard, L., Lennes, I. T., Leung, A. N., Mazzone, P. J., Merritt, R. E., Midthun, D. E., . . . Hughes, M. (2022). NCCN Guidelines® Insights: Lung Cancer Screening, Version 1.2022. Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, 20(7), 754–764. https://doi.org/10.6004/jnccn.2022.0036

On average, lung cancer treatment costs IMSS more than 260,000 pesos per patient (15,800 USD), starting at around 8,900 USD for those patients diagnosed in stage I-II, rising to 10,209 USD for stage IV, and up to 18,500 USD in cases with adenocarcinoma (Rascón-Pacheco et al., 2019).

Rascón-Pacheco, R. A., González-León, M., Arroyave-Loaiza, M. G., & Borja-Aburto, V. H. (2019). Incidencia, mortalidad y costos de la atención por cáncer de pulmón en el Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social. Salud PúBlica De MéXico (Impresa), 61(3, may-jun), 257. https://doi.org/10.21149/9808

In Mexico, lung cancer is the 2nd main cause of death in males, and the 4th in females, in populations 60 years and older (INEGI, 2024).

INEGI. (2024). ESTADÍSTICAS A PROPÓSITO DEL DÍA MUNDIAL CONTRA EL CÁNCER. INEGI. https://www.inegi.org.mx/contenidos/saladeprensa/aproposito/2024/EAP_CANCER24.pdf

For the population lacking social security, the estimated unit cost of care for lung cancer ranges from 8,300 USD to 20,800 USD (Méndez, n.d.).

Méndez, J. S. M. (n.d.). Estimación del costo de atención de cáncer de pulmón. CIEP. https://ciep.mx/estimacion-del-costo-de-atencion-de-cancer-de-pulmon/

Patients diagnosed in stage IV have a one-year survival rate of only 15-19%, compared to 81-85% for those cases detected in stage I (Knight et al., 2017).

Knight, S., Crosbie, P., Balata, H., Chudziak, J., Hussell, T., & Dive, C. (2017). Progress and prospects of early detection in lung cancer. Open Biology, 7(9), 170070. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsob.170070

Patients in all stages of cancer show evidence of a decreased 5-year survival rate when the time from cancer diagnosis to treatment increases. Stages most affected by this effect are Stage I and II which experience a 9% decrease in survival when the interval goes over 7 days. Early treatment in Stages I and IV patients results in a smaller 5-year survival rate increase of 1.91% and 0.49%, respectively (Tsai et al., 2020).

Tsai, C., Kung, P., Kuo, W., & Tsai, W. (2020). Effect of time interval from diagnosis to treatment for non-small cell lung cancer on survival: a national cohort study in Taiwan. BMJ Open, 10(4), e034351. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-034351