The DEPRECAP (Early detection of lung cancer) study is an ongoing, prospective, longitudinal, multicenter lung cancer screening program that recruited individuals with COPD or emphysema from the pulmonary clinics of Fundación Jiménez Díaz University Hospital and Villalba General Hospital, in Madrid, Spain.
The aim of this observational study is to determine the scientific evidence needed to study the benefit and potential effects of lung cancer screening in this group of patients and to determine the long-term effects of the intervention in reducing the high mortality rates associated with late-stage lung cancer diagnosis in a very high-risk population, to address under-diagnosis of COPD and to promote smoking cessation. This leads to the creation of a registry with clinical, radiological, functional data and biological samples for future studies in this cohort of patients to provide the scientific evidence needed to study the benefit and potential effects of screening for lung cancer and other tobacco-related pathologies diagnosed by Low-dose CT (LDCT)
Current or former smokers (>15 years of abstinence) with a cumulative smoking exposure of > 30 pack-years
Diagnosis of COPD according to the GOLD guidelines and/or emphysema identified by LDCT and/or a carbon monoxide diffusing capacity (DLCO) lower than 80% of predicted (as per the Global Lung Function Initiative (GLI) equations)
Individuals with a recent history of cancer (except non-melanoma skin cancer or carcinoma in situ) as well as those with other medical conditions that posed a significant risk of death were excluded from the study.