The impact of monthly campaigns and other high-profile media coverage on public interest in 13 malignancies: a Google Trends analysis

Abstract

It is estimated that more than 600,000 people will die of cancer in the United States in 2020. Annual cancer diagnoses throughout the country are expected to rise in the coming years, which may further strain the American healthcare system. As such, it is vital that public health campaigns intended to reduce cancer morbidity and mortality are successful. Monthly cancer awareness campaigns have been used in the past to raise awareness and funding for various malignancies. One notable example is the ‘Pink October’ campaign to raise awareness for breast cancer. There has been limited study, however, on the effectiveness of cancer awareness campaigns for other cancers such as colorectal cancer, prostate cancer and cervical cancer. High-profile media coverage of celebrity cancer diagnoses and/or cancer-related deaths is another method by which knowledge of common cancers is dispersed to the public. In this study, we evaluate the impact of monthly cancer awareness campaigns as well as celebrity cancer diagnoses and/or deaths on Internet search traffic regarding various malignancies. We used the Google Trends database to evaluate public interest in 13 different cancers (and their respective cancer screening methods, when applicable) from January 2010 to June 2020. Public interest in 6 of 13 cancers (cervical cancer, colorectal cancer, skin cancer, ovarian cancer, breast cancer and lung cancer) was significantly higher in their respective awareness months when compared to the rest of the year. Furthermore, peak public interest for 9 of 13 cancers was associated with a media-event such as a monthly awareness campaign or celebrity diagnoses and/or death. Our findings illustrate the important role that the media plays in facilitating public interest in common cancers and their screening methods. Cancer awareness months can serve as an effective tool to increase Internet search traffic regarding a given malignancy. In the future, public health agencies can attempt to utilise increased search traffic to better educate the public, raise funds and improve enrolment in cancer screening programmes that reduce cancer morbidity and mortality.

Insights and Strategies to Revive Brachytherapy Using Social Media: A Google Trends Analysis

“…“When” and “where” the information is shared also play an important role. Cohen et al and Glynn et al both showed in their studies that cancer awareness months are effective in increasing Internet search traffic/public interest [ 22 , 23 ]. In addition to the proposed annual “Brachytherapy Day” on July 17 [ 9 ], we could also utilize brachytherapy’s versatility in treating various cancers (e.g., prostate cancer, cervical cancer, and breast cancer) and tie in with their respective awareness months, thus gaining multiple publicity opportunities every year.…”

Seasonal variations in the diagnosis of the top 10 cancers in Korea: A nationwide population‐based study using a common data model

“…Our findings finally demonstrated that the accessibility to healthcare service and logistics for screening program has been recognized as the most powerful factor for seasonality of cancer diagnosis rather than the multifactorial etiology. Seasonal variation of cancer detection is a surrogate maker of effective cancer screening program from the perspective of increasing screening efforts for cancer diagnosis 21–23 …”

Impact of the cervical cancer awareness months on public interest in Japan: A Google Trends analysis, 2012–2021

“…To confirm the impact of the awareness months on public interest, we performed another analysis to estimate the difference in the mean weekly RSVs of the subjective and non-awareness months. As in a recent study 19 , the mean RSVs of January (CCAM, week 1st to 4th) and November (CCPAEM, week 45th to 48th) were compared to the mean RSVs for the rest of the year by the Kruskal–Wallis test. The threshold for statistical significance was defined as a p -value < 0.05, which indicated the level at which the slope differed from zero.…”

“…Additionally, since 2010, November is the cervical cancer prevention awareness enhancement month (CCPAEM) in Japan, which has been endorsed by CancerNet Japan 18 . Recently, several studies have reported the usefulness of measuring public attention toward malignant diseases during the Cancer Awareness Months by the method of Google Trend analysis 19 , 20 . However, impacts of those awareness campaigns on public interests has not been fully evaluated in Japan.…”