HMG7100 Foundations of Public Health: Lung Cancer Policy Brief

This policy brief, prepared for a Foundations of Public Health course, addresses the critical issue of lung cancer. It begins with an executive summary highlighting the disease's prevalence, causes (including smoking, environmental factors, and genetic mutations), symptoms, and the two main classifications: small cell and non-small cell lung cancer. The report details diagnostic methods such as X-rays, CT scans, and PET scans, and outlines treatment options like radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and targeted drug therapies. The core of the brief focuses on the context of lung cancer, emphasizing its impact on Europe and the need for public health interventions. It then delves into policy discussions, examining government initiatives like lung cancer screening programs and tobacco control measures. The report analyzes the effectiveness of these programs, advocating for affordable screening, education campaigns, and support for smoking cessation. The policy recommendations include advocating for screening adults with a history of smoking, providing affordable screening, and leveraging social media for awareness. The report references several studies and emphasizes the importance of proactive measures to reduce lung cancer mortality and improve public health outcomes. The brief aims to convince the target audience of the urgency of the current problem and the need to adopt the preferred alternative or course of action outlined.

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Foundation of public health
Foundation of public health
Policy brief on lung cancer
MAY 12, 2019
Student Details:

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Foundation of public health
Executive Summary
Lung cancer is the main reason of leading mortality in all types of cancer in Europe. It starts
spreading from the lung to other body parts of a person. Due to air pollution, asbestos fibers,
radon gas, tobacco inhalation and smoking, mutation in cells inside lung takes place. Due to
which tumor formation occur and it causes lung cancer to a person. Severe cough having sputum
and blood, bronchitis, pneumonia like lung infections, pain in arm, shoulder, hand and chest,
weakness, weight loss are the symptoms of lung cancer. Lung cancer is divide into two parts; one
is small cell lung cancer (SCLC), second is non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). These types are
divided on the bases of size of cell at microscopic level. Tests like MRI, CT scan, X-ray,
positron emission tomography (PET), blood sample test, bone scan would be diagnose by
doctors. It can be prevented by using radiotherapy, chemotherapy, High frequency X-rays
exposure, target specific drugs. Many policies are established by government to aware people
about the lung cancer and to prevent use of tobacco and smoking. By these policies government
wants to end causes of lung cancer to prevent initiation of lung cancer to a person. Health care
policy plans, affordable cost, effective and approachable screening programs can be used to
aware people and to reduce mortality rate. Tobacco use and smoking cessation policy and
positive and effective use of social media can be recommended for better and effective results in
reducing mortality due to lung cancer.

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Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................1
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Policy brief on lung cancer..............................................................................................................4
Context.........................................................................................................................................4
Policy Discussion.........................................................................................................................6
Policy Recommendation..............................................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
In Europe, lung cancer is the main reason of causing death in all types of cancer. Lung cancer
would be caused due to radiation, chemicals, smoking, tobacco inhalation, asbestos fibers, and
air pollution. Due to these mutations occur in the cells and tumor formation takes place in cells
inside the lungs (Faure, 2015). Lung cancer can be treated by using radiotherapy, chemotherapy,
and by using target-specific drugs. But due to lack of awareness and addiction of tobacco peoples
get to suffer from lung cancer. To spread awareness about lung cancer treatment, many policies
like lung cancer screening programs get established by the government organization. Tobacco
control and smoking cessation programs get established to stop tobacco use and smoking by
peoples. In these policies, organization focus on the control over tobacco use in youth and adults,
promote quitting tobacco by the peoples and eliminate the use of tobacco in the peoples (Bell,
2018).

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Policy brief on lung cancer
Context
Lung cancer starts taking place inside the lungs of a person body. Lungs are the organs situated
in the chest of a person body. They function during the inhalation of oxygen and exhalation of
carbon dioxide (Staff, 2018). Lung cancer takes place when a mutation in the cells inside the
lungs takes place. Then these cells start growing rapidly without getting into controlled. These
unstoppable cells shape a tumor after bunching together. These tumor cells formation takes place
most commonly due to the harmful chemical which is taken inside the body when a person
breathes. Because of these harmful chemicals, lung cells get mutated. These cancerous cells
damage healthy cells around themselves. These types of tumor cells are known to be malignant
tumors. During the spread of these tumor cells, they lead to inappropriate functioning to the
organs of the body (Association, 2017). Mostly lung cancer takes place through the epithelial
cells inside the bronchi and the bronchioles part of the lungs of a person and this cancer known
to be bronchogenic cancers. It may takes place in the lungs via pleura and known to be
mesotheliomas and also from blood vessels present inside blood vessels (Stoppler, 2019).
Lung cancer can be caused due to smoking, tobacco inhalation, asbestos fibers, radon gas, and
air pollution. Nitrosamines, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons like many chemicals would be
released by the tobacco and smoking which may lead to the formation of the tumor inside the
lung cells. Asbestos fibers would know to be silicate fibers and these fibers would be deposited
inside the lung tissues for a long time in the body of a person and radon gas emits ionizing
radiation which causes lung cancer (Martin, 2017).

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Severe cough with sputum and blood, infections like bronchitis, pneumonia-related with the
respiratory system, pain in the chest, shoulder, hands and arm, weakness, weight loss, severe
headaches, and fever are the symptoms of the lung cancer (Ratini, 2017).
Lung cancer is divided into two parts on the basis of the presence of the tumor cells at the
microscopic level. Small cell lung cancers (SCLC) and non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC) are
the two types of lung cancer. Non-small cell cancers would be further divided into many types
on the basis of the type of cells present inside the tumor. Adenocarcinomas, bronchioloalveolar
carcinoma, squamous cell carcinomas, large cell carcinomas are the types of non-small cell
cancers (Stoppler, 2019).
Several tests like imaging X-ray, CT scan, MRI, sputum cytology, tissue sample biopsy, blood
sample tests, positron emission tomography (PET) and bone scans would be performed for lung
cancer diagnoses (Staff, 2018).
Surgery, Radiofrequency ablation, radiation, chemotherapy, target specific drug intervention
would be provided to treat lung cancer in the patient. By surgery, part of a lung having cancer
would be removed. Radiofrequency ablation would be done by providing an electric current to
kill cancer. High-energy X-rays radiation would be provided to destroy the tumor. Chemo drugs
would be provided to treat lung cancer. Target specific drugs like afatinib (Gilotrif), brigatinib
(Alunbrig) would be provided to the patient to control the spreading of lung cancer to other cells
and body parts (Boyce, 2019). Many policies like lung cancer screening program, tobacco
control and smoking cessation taken in the consideration by the government to aware about and
to prevent lung cancer in the peoples. To aware people about causes, harmful effect, symptoms

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and treatment availability of lung cancer, they initiate education campaign for the peoples (Adjei,
2015).
Policy Discussion
Government organization initiates lung cancer screening program to deal with lung cancer. They
provide updated education to the doctors and nursing staff about the use of technology to deal
with lung cancer. They provide information about to use minimum radiation bombardment
during the use of MRI, CT scan and X-ray to prevent mutation in the patient body. Because due
to high radiation frequency during these test can cause mutation which leads to cause cancer to a
person. To minimize mortality rate by as a minimum of 20%, they would advise for the use of
low-dose chest CT scan. They advise preventing needless repetitive CT scan and amount
(Oudkerk, et al., 2017). They provide free campaign for the checkup of cancer and provide free
medication. These campaigns are very useful to excite people for utilization of the effective
medical facilities and to educate peoples to provide attention towards their health. They support
medical advertisement to provide knowledge about the disease symptoms and for the proper
treatment facilities. They provide knowledge about exercises to prevent weakness in the body, to
clear sputum from the chest, to prevent weight loss or gain, to provide improvement in bone
density. They provide knowledge about effective medications, cognitive behavioral and
relaxation therapy (AM, et al., 2018). An education campaign would be assisted in the rural area.
Because peoples do not have knowledge about cancer and people have many misconceptions
about cancer in the rural area. They would motivate and aware of the cause, early diagnosis
benefits, and treatment for cancer (Croager, et al., 2018).
In the tobacco control and smoking cessation, the organization follows three main purposes to
prevent the use of tobacco and smoke. One to prevent initiation of tobacco and smoking in the

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youth, second to support adults and youth to quit on the use of tobacco and smoking,
identification and elimination of the use of tobacco in the peoples. They educate about a healthy
diet. The organization would encounter with the population who intake tobacco and smoking.
Then they would recognize the area having these population and provide healthcare programs in
that area. In these health care programs, they would educate about diseases like different types of
cancers, heart-related diseases, severe respiratory system related diseases who occur due to the
intake of tobacco and smoking. They provide rehabilitation program to educate them about the
harmful effect of tobacco on the body. They support and motivate peoples to quit the use of
tobacco and smoking. They provide anti-drug to prevent the use of tobacco and to eliminate the
harmful effects of tobacco inside the body. They help to enhance the quality of life of the
peoples. It would be helpful by spreading information to stop tobacco use through media
campaigning and advertisement about the harmful effects of tobacco use on the body. By
encountering and applying the ban on the advertisement and media campaigning who support
and excite people towards the use of tobacco (King, et al., 2014).
Policy Recommendation
The recommendation would be needed for the screening of adults who are 18 years or older than
18 years. In this those adults would be screened who are not screened for lung cancer before and
they do not have evidence of past lung cancer. These adults would have tobacco addiction and do
smoking. Screening of lung cancer would be done for the peoples having age between 55 to 74
years. These peoples would have a minimum history of 30 pack-years of smoking and these
peoples left on smoking 15 years before. For these peoples, low-dose computed tomography
(CT) would be done every year for a regular three years. Chest radiography with or without
sputum would not be used for the screening of lung cancer. These recommendations would be

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needed to use because every adult is not using going under the screening process. So that they
are not aware of these recommendations and due to the high cost of these screening test. Due to
these screening programs getting failed in the peoples. Low-dose CT is effective only with 30-
pack-years of smoking and with no smoking in the last 15 years. Similarly, during the chest
radiography with or without sputum, many harmful radiations emitted and it does not show
effective results in the peoples. Due to this, it would be recommended not to use chest
radiography with or without sputum (Lewin, et al., 2016). These screening programs are not
coming into influence in the rural area. Because in the rural, these facilities are not provided in
the effective and below the requirement of people in rural areas. Due to these reasons, the
recommendation needed to focus on it. For this effective campaign needed to come into
influence in accordance with the requirement of peoples. They have to educate peoples in the
simple and effective language so that they understand the benefits of screening programs.
Affordable cost of the screening test would be needed for the peoples. So that they can utilize the
screening of lung cancer effectively. The government would have to provide health insurance
policies for the poor and rural area peoples (Straube, 2014). By screening and detection of lung
cancer at an early stage can help reducing mortality rate and enhance the quality of life in the
peoples. At the social media platform, many information would be placed who support and
excite peoples towards the use of tobacco and to do smoking. Tobacco use and smoking can be
reduced by prohibiting on the release of such kind of information on the social media platform.
On the social media platform can help in spreading awareness by providing information
regarding the support and effective benefits of screening of lung cancer. It can use in spreading
awareness regarding not to use tobacco by showing harmful effects of consumption of tobacco
and of smoking (Eggert, et al., 2017).

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Conclusion
Lung cancer is the main reason of mortality in all types of cancer in Europe. To prevent
mortality, many policies would be established by the government to spread awareness about
symptoms, causes, and treatment for lung cancer in the peoples. For this, screening programs for
lung cancer, tobacco control, and smoking cessation came into influence to spread awareness
about lung cancer and prohibit tobacco use and smoking. For making these policies more
effective and for proper utilization of these policies cost-effectiveness, healthcare policy plan,
low-dose CT and positive utilization of social media would be needed recommendation.

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References
Adjei, A. A., 2015. Policies. [Online]
Available at: https://www.iaslc.org/research-education/policies
AM, C. J. et al., 2018. Health and emotional wellbeing. [Online]
Available at: https://lungfoundation.com.au/patients-carers/get-support/health-and-emotional-
wellbeing/
Association, A. L., 2017. Lung Cancer Basics. [Online]
Available at: https://www.lung.org/lung-health-and-diseases/lung-disease-lookup/lung-cancer/
learn-about-lung-cancer/what-is-lung-cancer/lung-cancer-basics.html
Bell, J., 2018. Understanding Lung Cancer: A guide for people with cancerr, their families and
friends. s.l.:SOS Print and Media Group.
Boyce, P., 2019. Lung Cancer Treatments. [Online]
Available at: https://www.webmd.com/lung-cancer/lung-cancer-treatment#1
Croager, E. J. et al., 2018. Find Cancer Early: Evaluation of a Community Education Campaign
to Increase Awareness of Cancer Signs and Symptoms in People in Regional Western
Australians. PMC, 8 February.Volume 6.
Eggert, J. A., Palavanzadeh, M. & Blanton, A., 2017. Screening and Early Detection of Lung
Cancer. PubMed, May, 33(2), pp. 129-140.
Faure, M., 2015. Lung cancer in Europe: turning the spotlight on the biggest cancer killer.
European Respiratory, 47(1), pp. 42-44.
King, B., Pechacek, T. & Mariolis, P., 2014. Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control
Programs-2014. [Online]
Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/stateandcommunity/best_practices/pdfs/2014/
comprehensive.pdf
Lewin, G. et al., 2016. Recommendations on screening for lung cancer. PMC, 5 April, 188(6),
pp. 425-432.
Martin, L. J., 2017. Causes of Lung Cancer. [Online]
Available at: https://www.webmd.com/lung-cancer/lung-cancer-causes#1
Oudkerk, M. et al., 2017. European position statement on lung cancer screening. PubMed,
December, 18(12), pp. e754-e766.
Ratini, M., 2017. Lung Cancer Symptoms: What You Should Know. [Online]
Available at: https://www.webmd.com/lung-cancer/understanding-lung-cancer-symptoms
Staff, M. C., 2018. Lung cancer. [Online]
Available at: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/lung-cancer/symptoms-causes/syc-