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Lung Health Foundation’s landmark baseline report shows a system with exceptional foundations – and critical blind spots in equity, patient experience, and access that could determine whether Ontario meets the Pan-Canadian Lung Cancer Action Plan’s 2035 mortality reduction targets

TORONTO, July 08, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Just weeks after Ontario officially achieved full provincial status for its organized lung screening program, Lung Health Foundation (LHF) today released a report that puts this achievement in full context. Advancing Lung Cancer Outcomes in Ontario: Baseline System Performance and Priorities for 2035 is the first comprehensive, province-wide assessment of how the lung cancer system is performing, from prevention and screening through to treatment, survivorship, and end-of-life care.

The report, developed with the expertise of a working group of members that includes clinicians, researchers, health system leaders, and people with lived/living experience, is both a celebration and a call to action. The analysis identifies system gaps and emerging risks while highlighting opportunities for targeted improvements.

“Ontario should be proud of what it has built,” says Dr. Jessica Moffatt, Vice President, Programs, Public Affairs & Research at Lung Health Foundation and Co-Chair of the working group. “The Ontario Lung Screening Program is a genuine world leader. It was designed from the ground up to be person-centred. But a great foundation only matters if we build on it deliberately. And right now, there are gaps in this system that, if left unaddressed, will cost lives.”

The biggest numbers and what’s behind them

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related death in Ontario. In 2024 alone, roughly 11,000 Ontarians received a lung cancer diagnosis and more than 6,800 died from the disease. Five-year survival remains approximately 29%, a figure that is directly tied to how late most cancers are being caught.

Despite the existence of an organized screening program, between 44 and 47% of lung cancers in Ontario are still being diagnosed at Stage 4. Only 26 to 28% are caught at Stage 1, when treatment is most effective and survival outcomes are dramatically better. That imbalance is the single greatest structural challenge in Ontario’s lung cancer system, according to Advancing Lung Cancer Outcomes in Ontario.

“The stage at which someone is diagnosed isn’t just a clinical detail”, says Dr. Moffatt. “It changes everything. Whether someone gets curative surgery or months of systemic therapy, it changes what the rest of their life looks like. Right now, far too many people are finding out they have lung cancer at the worst possible moment.”

Treatment timelines are a persistent concern. The median wait from diagnosis to first treatment has hovered between 41 to 44 days, with no meaningful improvement over the past decade. Roughly one in 10 patients wait more than 100 days to begin treatment, delays that can allow disease to progress and reduce the effectiveness of care.

The equity problem nobody is measuring

The report’s findings on equity are among the most urgent and perhaps the most revealing. There are measurable disparities in who gets screened and when. Screening completion is approximately 95% in Ontario’s least materially deprived communities, compared with 89% in the most deprived areas. In neighbourhoods with the highest ethnic concentration, the gap widens further, with completion rates dropping to 85%.

According to Dr. Ambreen Sayani, global expert in equity-promoting cancer policy, scientist, Emily Stowe Scholar at Women’s College Hospital and Co-Chair of the working group that developed the report says: "Advancing Lung Cancer Outcomes in Ontario makes one thing clear: our indicators and priorities must reflect the diverse clinical and system-level realities across the province to be truly meaningful for patients and policy makers alike. If we act on the findings from this report, we can drive coordinated improvements across the entire lung cancer care continuum and reduce lung cancer mortality by 30% by 2035, in line with the Pan-Canadian Lung Cancer Action Plan."

Adds Dr. Moffatt: “We’re not capturing the health equity data we need to see what’s happening across Ontario communities. We know from the experience of breast, colorectal, and cervical screening that when you build a program without that lens, you get a program that works well for some Ontarians and falls short for others. We have a chance to do better with lung, and this report is our way of saying let’s use what we know.”

What the report cannot tell us yet, and why not knowing matters

In a finding that surprised even the report’s authors, Lung Health Foundation discovered that many of the important questions about Ontario’s lung cancer system simply cannot be answered yet. Lung cancer-specific patient-reported outcomes – measures of symptom burden, quality of life, and patient experience – are not publicly reported, even though the data infrastructure exists to collect them. Equity-stratified reporting by factors like income, geography, and Indigenous identity is inconsistent or absent. Many key indicators carry a data lag of up to two years, making real-time monitoring impossible, according to the report.

Working group member Annemarie Edwards, MBA, Vice-President of Cancer Strategy and Innovation at Canadian Cancer Society says: "If we act on the insights from Advancing Lung Cancer Outcomes in Ontario, we can help more people get diagnosed earlier, access care faster, and receive the right treatment sooner. That means better survival rates, less burden on patients and families, and meaningful progress in closing care gaps for the communities that face the greatest barriers -- all directly aligned with the priorities of the Pan-Canadian Lung Cancer Action Plan."

A path to 2035

Nationally, the Pan-Canadian Lung Cancer Action Plan (LCAP) has set a target of reducing lung cancer mortality by 30% by 2035. Achieving that goal in Ontario will require coordinated action across five priority areas:

1. Expanding early detection
2. Reducing diagnosis-to-treatment delays
3. Strengthening workforce capacity
4. Improving data transparency
5. Addressing the social determinants that compel who get screened and who doesn’t
   

Advancing Lung Cancer Outcomes in Ontario identifies a workforce crisis as a rising risk. An estimated 2.2 million Ontarians currently have no family doctor – the essential entry point into the screening pathway. Cancer incidence and mortality are projected to grow by 40 and 44% respectively by 2040. Without deliberate expansion of oncology, radiology, and primary care capacity, the system could struggle to keep pace.

"In my practice, the findings in Advancing Lung Cancer Outcomes in Ontario will help us pinpoint where we have the greatest opportunities to improve outcomes through earlier diagnosis, equitable access to screening, and more coordinated care pathways," asserts working group member Christian Finley, MD, MHP, FRCSC, Professor, Department of Surgery, and Clinical Lead, Ontario Lung Cancer Screening Program, McMaster University. "The report gives us an important baseline to guide quality improvement and strengthen accountability as we work to reduce lung cancer mortality across Ontario."

About Advancing Lung Cancer Outcomes in Ontario

Advancing Lung Cancer Outcomes in Ontario: Baseline System Performance and Priorities for 2035 was developed by Lung Health Foundation in partnership with Ontario Health and a multi-stakeholder working group of clinicians, researchers, health system leaders, and people with lived and living experience with lung cancer. The report is structured using the Quintuple Aim framework and covers 17 indicators across Population Health, Patient Experience, Provider Experience, Cost & Efficiency, and Equity & Access. It is designed as a living document to support annual monitoring and public accountability.

About Lung Health Foundation
The Lung Health Foundation, formerly the Ontario Lung Association, has been working to improve the lung health of Canadians for more than 100 years. As the national leader in lung health, the organization supports and empowers individuals living with lung disease through community programs, research, education, and advocacy. Its work helps build a healthier future for Canadians affected by lung conditions and their caregivers.

Follow LHF on social media: Instagram: @lunghealthfoundation; Facebook: lunghealthfoundation; X (formerly Twitter): @LungHealthFdn.

For further information or to arrange interviews:

CONTACT:
Rob Bailey
Email: rbailey@brandstandpr.com
Phone: 201-819-1134

Margo Rapport
Email: margo@margorapport.com
Phone: 416-895-5672

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