Background
In 2010, the World Health Organisation recommended implementation of screening programmes in four groups of diseases—neoplasms, cardiovascular diseases (CVD), diabetes mellitus (DM) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It is due to the fact that they share the same, modifiable risk factors.

Methods
Between 2009 and 2011, 8637 heavy smokers (aged 50–75, smoking history >20 pack-years) were screened in the Pomeranian Pilot Lung Cancer Screening Programme (PPP) in Gdańsk, Poland. We looked at 5-year follow-up and analysed the medical events and comorbidities of all participants. One health care provider in the Polish health care system provides a unique opportunity to gather most reliable data on all medical events in each person.

Results
In 52.0% of lung cancer screening participants CVD (33.5%), DM (26.0%) and COPD (21.0%) were diagnosed. Prevalence of these diseases is higher in lung cancer patients than in the non-cancer screening group (P < 0.0001). One hundred and seven (1.2%) lung cancers were diagnosed during PPP programme performance and another 382 cases (4.4%) in the 5-year follow-up, so the potential mean annual lung cancer detection rate is 0.77%.

Conclusions
Lung cancer screening programme offers a great potential for joint screening of lung cancer, CVD, diabetes and COPD.