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. 2021 Aug 26;1(1):e29387.
doi: 10.2196/29387. eCollection 2021 Jan-Dec.

Public Interest and Behavior Change in the United States Regarding Colorectal Cancer Following the Death of Chadwick Boseman: Infodemiology Investigation of Internet Search Trends Nationally and in At-Risk Areas

Nicholas B Sajjadi #  1 , Kaylea Feldman #  1 , Samuel Shepard #  1 , Arjun K Reddy #  1 , Trevor Torgerson #  1 , Micah Hartwell #  1   2 , Matt Vassar #  1   2
Affiliations

Public Interest and Behavior Change in the United States Regarding Colorectal Cancer Following the Death of Chadwick Boseman: Infodemiology Investigation of Internet Search Trends Nationally and in At-Risk Areas

Nicholas B Sajjadi et al. JMIR Infodemiology. .

Abstract

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) has the third highest cancer mortality rate in the United States. Enhanced screening has reduced mortality rates; however, certain populations remain at high risk, notably African Americans. Raising awareness among at-risk populations may lead to improved CRC outcomes. The influence of celebrity death and illness is an important driver of public awareness. As such, the death of actor Chadwick Boseman from CRC may have influenced CRC awareness.

Objective: We sought to assess the influence of Chadwick Boseman's death on public interest in CRC in the United States, evidenced by internet searches, website traffic, and donations to prominent cancer organizations.

Methods: We used an auto-regressive integrated moving average model to forecast Google searching trends for the topic "Colorectal cancer" in the United States. We performed bivariate and multivariable regressions on state-wise CRC incidence rate and percent Black population. We obtained data from the American Cancer Society (ACS) and the Colon Cancer Foundation (CCF) for information regarding changes in website traffic and donations.

Results: The expected national relative search volume (RSV) for colorectal cancer was 2.71 (95% CI 1.76-3.66), reflecting a 3590% (95% CI 2632%-5582%) increase compared to the expected values. With multivariable regression, the statewise RSV increased for each percent Black population by 1.09 (SE 0.18, P<.001), with 42% of the variance explained (P<.001). The American Cancer Society reported a 58,000% increase in CRC-related website traffic the weekend following Chadwick Boseman's death compared to the weekend before. The Colon Cancer Foundation reported a 331% increase in donations and a 144% increase in revenue in the month following Boseman's death compared to the month prior.

Conclusions: Our results suggest that Chadwick Boseman's death was associated with substantial increases in awareness of CRC. Increased awareness of CRC may support earlier detection and better prognoses.

Keywords: Chadwick Boseman; Google Trends; Twitter; colerectal cancer; data analytics; infodemiology; public health; search analytics.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: MV reports receipt of funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the US Office of Research Integrity, and the Oklahoma Center for Advancement of Science and Technology, and internal grants from Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences—all outside of the present work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(A) Relative search volumes for colorectal cancer in the United States before and after Chadwick Boseman’s death on August 28, 2020 (indicated by the asterisk). The expected forecast from the autoregressive integrated moving average model is shown by the red line. (B) The total number of visits (worldwide) to the “Colorectal cancer” and “Chadwick Boseman” Wikipedia pages before and after Chadwick Boseman’s death. The vertical axis is on a logarithmic scale, with each large tick mark representing an order of magnitude. (C) The number of tweets containing the text “colon cancer” or “chadwick boseman”. The vertical axis is on a logarithmic scale.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(Top) RSV on Google Trends for the term colorectal cancer during peak interest surrounding the death of Chadwick Boseman. (Bottom) Percentage of Americans who identified as Black/African American on the 2015 American Community Survey [33]. CRC: colorectal cancer; RSV: relative search volume.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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