Eric K. Singhi, M.D., on lung cancer among younger adults

Roughly 10% of patients diagnosed with lung cancer today are younger than 50, according to Eric K. Singhi, M.D., of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. These patients do not qualify for routine lung cancer screening, are often symptomatic by the time they are evaluated and are frequently diagnosed at advanced stages of disease, Singhi said in an interview conducted at the 2026 CHEST meeting, held this week in Phoenix,

Singhi places young-onset lung cancer within the broader rise of cancers among younger adults. Colorectal cancer is now the leading cause of cancer death among men and women younger than 50 combined, a shift that has driven home the point that age does not rule out a cancer diagnosis. That message, he says, has been slower to take hold in lung cancer. Some data suggests that lung cancer incidence in younger people overall is decreasing because of decreasing smoking rates, although that generalization does not apply to all subgroups.

The disease in younger patients also looks different biologically. Many have nonsquamous histology, most often adenocarcinoma, with a biomarker driving tumor growth. And many have never smoked a cigarette, Singhi emphasized

“Young onset lung cancer is a thing,” Singhi said. He urges pulmonologists, who are often the first specialists to see these patients, to keep lung cancer on the differential diagnosis, and he calls for greater awareness among both clinicians and the public that a person does not have to smoke to develop the disease.

How to find these patients sooner is an active area of research. Singhi points to efforts to look beyond personal smoking history, the main criterion for screening eligibility today, to other risk factors. Singhi mentions results from a study in Taiwan suggest that screening people with a family history of lung cancer may help detect the disease earlier. Investigators are also studying noninvasive approaches to early detection, including liquid biopsy assays and breath-based tests.