Heavy smokers and former smokers are being advised to seek annual lung cancer screening, Reuters reported citing final guidelines issued on Monday by a government panel.

An advisory, issued by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and published in the Annals Internal Medicine, applies to smokers aged 55 to 80 whose smoking has put them at high risk of cancer. The advisory also applies to former smokers who have quit within the past 15 years.

The panel's comprehensive review of medical evidence in the past 10 years have revealed that the benefits of screening high-risk individuals with low-dose computed tomography, or CT scans, "outweigh the potential harms of overdiagnosis and increased exposure to radiation," which also contribute to cancer risk, Reuters reported.

The task force, which is comprised of independent experts and advises U.S. policymakers, gave the screening a "B" recommendation; this means that it is at least moderately certain that the benefits of the scans outweigh the harms. Under the Affordable Care Act, insurers are required to cover preventive services with a grade of "B" or higher.

The panel states that, "lung cancer screening is not an alternative to smoking cessation and that screening cannot prevent most deaths that are directly related to lung cancer. However, they found there was adequate evidence that annual lung cancer screening in a defined population of high-risk persons could prevent a substantial amount of disease-related mortality."

Smoking causes roughly 85 percent of lung cancers in the United States, making it the biggest risk factor for developing lung cancer, Reuters reported.

The guidelines issued by the task force fall in line with recommendations from most major groups of cancer experts, including the American Cancer Society and the American Society of Clinical Oncology.