Did Your Parents Smoke? They Should Get a Lung Cancer Screening

So your father enjoyed his cigarettes over the years. Or maybe your mother lit up more than a few on the back porch when you were growing up. And that makes you worry that your mom or dad is at increased risk for lung cancer.

Your fears are warranted: Cigarette smoking is the number one risk factor for lung cancer, linked to about 80% to 90% of lung cancer deaths.  

In 2025, about 125,000 people died from lung cancer in the United States, more than from any other kind of cancer. One reason lung cancer is so deadly is that it can grow silently and reach an advanced stage before any symptoms appear. Plus, there’s no blood test for it. 

But there is hope. A simple, quick test can detect lung cancer early, when treatment is more likely to be successful.

“Historically, survival for lung cancer has only been a little over 20%,” says Douglas Wood, MD, a thoracic surgeon at UW Medical Center and the UW School of Medicine’s Henry N. Harkins Professor and Chair of Surgery. “But in people who have lung cancer detected at an earlier stage through screening, the survival rate is over 80%.”

Lung cancer screening picks up the disease early

Lung cancer screening tests use low-dose CT scans to examine the lungs, meaning the amount of radiation you receive is even smaller than that of a standard chest CT.  

“It is noninvasive and painless — the actual test takes 30 seconds,” says Wood, who is a national leader in the development and expansion of lung cancer screening. “You lie down on a table, go through the scanner, and it’s done; you get up and walk out.”

If the screening detects an abnormality, your doctor will order more tests. If everything looks good, you can schedule your next annual screening.  

Not only is the test fast and safe, but it has also proved more effective at detecting the disease at earlier stages than previous screening methods. A 2011 study shows that low-dose CT screening led to a 20% reduction in mortality when compared with standard chest X-rays to check for the disease. Another study published last year found that if more people were screened with low-dose CT, 62,000 deaths could be prevented over a five-year period.

If your loved one is between 50 and 80 years old and has a smoking history, they are at high risk of getting lung cancer and could be eligible for a screening. Medicare and private insurance will cover the low-dose CT screening if certain factors are met. 

Shame around lung cancer  

Despite its effectiveness, only 1 in 5 eligible people are getting low-dose CT screening. One of the barriers is the social stigma surrounding lung cancer and the perception of it as a self-inflicted disease.

“If you tell somebody you have lung cancer, the next question is, ‘Did you smoke?’ like it’s your fault,” says Wood. “What I’ve learned from people with lung cancer is that they feel ashamed, and they feel like they don’t deserve to have a diagnosis.”

Wood says that even people who have never smoked can feel ashamed to share their lung cancer diagnosis for fear of what people will say or think.  

Of course, it’s not true that it’s anyone’s fault for getting cancer.  

“Nobody deserves to be sick, and nobody deserves to have cancer,” says Wood.

How to broach the subject of screening with parents  

So, how do you start a conversation with a loved one about getting lung cancer screening? It can be tough to talk to family members about getting any medical tests, especially when it’s your parents, who are used to being the ones in charge.  

This can be even more complicated when your mom or dad has never heard of a particular test or can’t immediately see the need for it. And then there’s the stigma of a lung cancer diagnosis and the fear of hearing bad news.

Openness and patience are key in discussing medical tests or other healthcare issues with parents, says Wayne McCormick, MD, a physician at Harborview Medical Center and head of gerontology and geriatric medicine for UW Medicine. He understands it can be difficult to broach healthcare topics with your parents.  

“Dynamics are different in every family,” he says.  

Openness and patience are key in discussing medical tests or other healthcare issues with aging parents. One way to tackle it is to tell them about the health screenings you’ve had and what led you to get them.  

Another idea, says Wood, is starting the conversation by mentioning an article you’ve read about lung cancer screening and how effective it is at saving lives. You could then ask whether they would ever consider doing it, given how easy the process is.  

If it seems like they might feel shame about getting the screening, Wood recommends calling it out. You might say something like, “I know that you might feel ashamed or responsible because you smoked, but you don’t deserve to have cancer.”

Overall, stay calm and open.  

“Just say that you don’t want to nag, but you do want to leave the conversation open if they want to talk about it,” says McCormick. “Sometimes people need to sleep on something. You can broach a subject and might not get much back initially, but a week or two later, you may be able to keep talking about it.”

Screening could save your parent’s life

As difficult as the conversation may be at first, it’s worth keeping at it if it might save your parent’s life. And if they do express interest in lung cancer screening, a good first step is for them to reach out to their primary care doctor or to bring it up during their yearly wellness exam.  

It’s understandable to be resistant to getting a screening, but it could save their life.

“We make all sorts of choices throughout life, some of them good and some of them bad, but you should not make the choice to miss out on a chance for early detection that could save your life,” says Wood. “You need to do it for the people around you who love you.” 

This article was originally published on October 1, 2018. It has been reviewed and updated with new info. Elaine Porterfield and Luke Whelan contributed to this article.