Texas has fewer new cases of lung cancer, but the state is still not catching the disease early enough or treating it consistently across all communities – especially among Black and Latino Texans.
This comes from the 2025“ State of Lung Cancer” report by the American Lung Association (ALA). Using data from 2023, the most recent available, the report found Texas’ rate of new lung cancer cases had declined by 15% over the previous five years, to 45.5 per 100,000, significantly lower than the national rate of 52.8 per 100,000, according to the ALA report.
“Texas seems to have some positive things going [for lung cancer prevention],” said Morvarid Rezaie, DO, a Fort Worth palliative and hospice care specialist and co-chair of TMA’s Committee on Cancer.
But the report also shows that Texas needs to improve racial and ethnic gaps, patient education, and screening, she says.
For instance, screening for lung cancer with annual low-dose CT scans among high-risk patients can reduce the lung cancer death rate by up to 20%, the ALA said. But Texas ranks 46th in screening, with only 12% of high-risk patients screened, much lower than the national rate of 18.2%, the report found.
Greater coordination among family physicians, oncologists, and hospitals can raise public awareness about the importance of screening – especially for those who smoked at least a pack of cigarettes each day for 15 years, Dr. Rezaie said.
“People may just have limited access to health care, whether they're rural or racial disparities, and their access to the health care system may prevent that ability to go and get a screen,” she said. "More collaboration between the hospital systems and a physician in the community will go a long way.”
Texans overall did not fare well when it came to treatment with surgery, which – while not an option for everyone – typically produces a better survival rate, the ALA says. In number of cases treated with surgery as part of the first course of treatment, Texas ranked 41st out of 49, with 16.2% of cases. That is significantly lower than the national rate of 20.7%.
Black and Latino Texans – two of the biggest high-risk groups for lung cancer – have even lower surgery rates than other Texans, per the report.
The ALA report also gave Texas an “F” in efforts to reduce tobacco use and exposure to second-hand smoke. This is an area where TMA’s recent state legislative efforts could improve the outlook for combatting lung cancer, Dr. Rezaie says.
In 2025, lawmakers approved Senate bills 1313 and 2024, which make it more difficult for tobacco and e-cigarette sellers to advertise to minors. The legislature also passed into law SB 1316, which prohibits signs for tobacco and e-cigarette products within 1,000 feet of schools and churches.
While these new laws are a welcome improvement, they do not go far enough in discouraging young people from smoking or vaping, Dr. Rezaie says. “When I go to the duty-free shops [while traveling abroad], their cigarettes have very simple messages that cigarettes cause cancer, and they have a picture of black lungs,” she said. “I feel that if people just saw that more and had that visual of ‘this is what a cigarette over time does to your lungs,’ that would hit home more than just the warning that's all words.”
Find out more about cancer-related issues at TMA’s Cancer Prevention and Control page.