University of Otago researchers hope a $5 million lung cancer study can be a game-changer for Māori.
The long-running Te Oranga Pūkahukahu has been looking at the information needed to develop an effective, equitable national lung cancer screening programme.
Professor Sue Crengle says lung cancer is the leading cause of death for Māori women in Aotearoa New Zealand and the second leading cause of death for Māori and non-Māori men.
The funding boost from the Health Research Council will help narrow down the people who should be offered tests.
“We use low-dose CT scans to identify people with lung cancer, before it causes any symptoms and that’s caught at an early stage. And lung cancer is curable – 80 percent of people with early stage lung cancer will be cured,” Professor Crengle says.
The new study will be looking for 12-hundred participants across the North Island – and the aim is for the study to lead to the roll-out of a national lung cancer screening program.
