Lung cancer screening websites tend to tout benefits over possible drawbacks

A small, new analysis of websites providing information on lung cancer screenings finds that these sources tend to overstate the benefits while downplaying the harms of such screenings. Looking at 162 screening sites — half of which were maintained by academic medical centers while the others belonged to community medical centers — researchers found that nearly all the sites mentioned benefits, such as how catching the disease earlier could improve morality, but only 48% of the sites included harms such as overdiagnosis and radiation exposure. False positives were the most frequently listed among possible harms, and community medical centers were less likely than academic centers to include harms.