Background Compared with White Americans, Black Americans have higher colon cancer mortality rates but lower up-to-date screening rates. Chadwick Boseman was a prominent Black American actor who died of colon cancer on August 28, 2020. As announcements of celebrity diagnoses often result in increased awareness, Boseman’s death may have resulted in greater interest in colon cancer on the internet, particularly among Black Americans. Objective This study aims to quantify the impact of Chadwick Boseman’s death on web-based search interest in colon cancer and determine whether there was an increase in interest in regions of the United States with a greater proportion of Black Americans. Methods We conducted an infoveillance study using Google Trends (GT) and Wikipedia pageview analysis. Using an autoregressive integrated moving average algorithm, we forecasted the weekly relative search volume (RSV) for GT search topics and terms related to colon cancer that would have been expected had his death not occurred and compared it with observed RSV data. This analysis was also conducted for the number of page views on the Wikipedia page for colorectal cancer. We then delineated GT RSV data for the term colon cancer for states and metropolitan areas in the United States and determined how the RSV values for these regions correlated with the percentage of Black Americans in that region. Differences in these correlations before and after Boseman’s death were compared to determine whether there was a shift in the racial demographics of the individuals conducting the searches. Results The observed RSVs for the topics colorectal cancer and colon cancer screening increased by 598% and 707%, respectively, and were on average 121% (95% CI 72%-193%) and 256% (95% CI 35%-814%) greater than expected during the first 3 months following Boseman’s death. Daily Wikipedia page view volume during the 2 months following Boseman’s death was on average 1979% (95% CI 1375%-2894%) greater than expected, and it was estimated that this represented 547,354 (95% CI 497,708-585,167) excess Wikipedia page views. Before Boseman’s death, there were negative correlations between the percentage of Black Americans living in a state or metropolitan area and the RSV for colon cancer in that area (r=−0.18 and r=−0.05, respectively). However, in the 2 weeks following his death, there were positive correlations between the RSV for colon cancer and the percentage of Black Americans per state and per metropolitan area (r=0.73 and r=0.33, respectively). These changes persisted for 4 months and were all statistically significant (P<.001). Conclusions There was a significant increase in web-based activity related to colon cancer following Chadwick Boseman’s death, particularly in areas with a higher proportion of Black Americans. This reflects a heightened public awareness that can be leveraged to further educate the public.

BACKGROUND Compared to White Americans, Black Americans have greater incidence and mortality rates from colon cancer, but lower up-to-date screening rates. Chadwick Boseman was a prominent Black American actor who died of colon cancer on August 28, 2020. As announcements of celebrity diagnoses often result in an increased awareness of particular conditions, Boseman’s death may have resulted in greater online interest in colon cancer. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to quantify the impact Chadwick Boseman’s death on online search interest in colon cancer, and thereby identify an opportunity for healthcare providers to educate the public and advocate for higher risk groups. METHODS We used Google Trends (GT) and Wikipedia pageview analysis to assess the change in online activity related to colon cancer in the United States from two years prior to Chadwick’s death to three months following the announcement of his death. We used two of GT search topics (“colorectal cancer” and “colon cancer screening”) and fifteen search terms related to colon cancer screening, symptoms, diagnosis and risk factors. We forecasted what RSVs and number of pageviews would be expected if his death had not occurred, and compared this to what was observed. The forecasts were generated with 95% bootstrapped confidence intervals (CIs) using the ARIMA algorithm in R software. RESULTS GT’s observed RSVs for the topics “colorectal cancer” and “colon cancer screening” increased by as much as 598% and 707%, respectively, and were on average 121% (95% CI, 72%-193%) and 256% (95% CI, 35%-814%) greater than expected during the first three months following Boseman’s death. Ten out of fifteen search terms had mean observed RSVs significantly higher than expected within the first and second month following Boseman’s death. Three of the fifteen search terms (“colon cancer signs”, “colon cancer survival” and “colon cancer symptoms”) remained significantly greater than expected within the third month following August 28, 2020. Daily Wikipedia pageview volume during the two months following Boseman’s death was on average 1,979% (95% CI, 1,375%-2,894%) greater than expected. Altogether, it is estimated that this represented 547,354 (95% CI, 497,708-585,167) excess Wikipedia pageviews beyond what would be expected if Boseman’s death had not occurred. CONCLUSIONS There has been a significant increase in online activity related to colon cancer following Chadwick Boseman’s death. This reflects a heightened public awareness that can be leveraged to further educate the public, including the high-risk Black American subgroup. The magnitude and duration of increased Google searches and Wikipedia pageviews following Boseman’s death is unprecedented in the literature and future research will reveal if this translates to improved screening and detection rates for colon cancer.