BACKGROUND: Announcements of cancer diagnoses from public figures may stimulate cancer information seeking and media coverage about cancer. This study used digital surveillance to quantify the effects of pancreatic cancer public figure announcements on online cancer information seeking and cancer media coverage. METHODS: We compiled a list of public figures (N = 25) who had been diagnosed with or had died from pancreatic cancer between 2006 and 2011. We specified interrupted time series models using data from Google Trends to examine search query shifts for pancreatic cancer and other cancers. Weekly media coverage archived on Google News were also analyzed. RESULTS: Most public figures' pancreatic cancer announcements corresponded with no appreciable change in pancreatic cancer search queries or media coverage. In contrast, Patrick Swayze's diagnosis was associated with a 285% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 212 to 360) increase in pancreatic cancer search queries, though it was only weakly associated with increases in pancreatic cancer media coverage. Steve Jobs's death was associated with a 197% (95% CI: 131 to 266) increase in pancreatic cancer queries and a 3517% (95% CI: 2882 to 4492) increase in pancreatic cancer media coverage. In general, a doubling in pancreatic cancer-specific media coverage corresponded with a 325% increase in pancreatic cancer queries. CONCLUSION: Digital surveillance is an important tool for future cancer control research and practice. The current application of these methods suggested that pancreatic cancer announcements (diagnosis or death) by particular public figures stimulated media coverage of and online information seeking for pancreatic cancer.
BACKGROUND: Announcements of cancer diagnoses from public figures may stimulate cancer information seeking and media coverage about cancer. This study used digital surveillance to quantify the effects of pancreatic cancer public figure announcements on online cancer information seeking and cancer media coverage. METHODS: We compiled a list of public figures (N = 25) who had been diagnosed with or had died from pancreatic cancer between 2006 and 2011. We specified interrupted time series models using data from Google Trends to examine search query shifts for pancreatic cancer and other cancers. Weekly media coverage archived on Google News were also analyzed. RESULTS: Most public figures' pancreatic cancer announcements corresponded with no appreciable change in pancreatic cancer search queries or media coverage. In contrast, Patrick Swayze's diagnosis was associated with a 285% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 212 to 360) increase in pancreatic cancer search queries, though it was only weakly associated with increases in pancreatic cancer media coverage. Steve Jobs's death was associated with a 197% (95% CI: 131 to 266) increase in pancreatic cancer queries and a 3517% (95% CI: 2882 to 4492) increase in pancreatic cancer media coverage. In general, a doubling in pancreatic cancer-specific media coverage corresponded with a 325% increase in pancreatic cancer queries. CONCLUSION: Digital surveillance is an important tool for future cancer control research and practice. The current application of these methods suggested that pancreatic cancer announcements (diagnosis or death) by particular public figures stimulated media coverage of and online information seeking for pancreatic cancer.
Authors: Jon-Patrick Allem; Eric C Leas; Theodore L Caputi; Mark Dredze; Benjamin M Althouse; Seth M Noar; John W Ayers Journal: Prev Sci Date: 2017-07
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Authors: Eric C Leas; Benjamin M Althouse; Mark Dredze; Nick Obradovich; James H Fowler; Seth M Noar; Jon-Patrick Allem; John W Ayers Journal: PLoS One Date: 2016-08-02 Impact factor: 3.240
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Authors: Benjamin M Althouse; Samuel V Scarpino; Lauren Ancel Meyers; John W Ayers; Marisa Bargsten; Joan Baumbach; John S Brownstein; Lauren Castro; Hannah Clapham; Derek At Cummings; Sara Del Valle; Stephen Eubank; Geoffrey Fairchild; Lyn Finelli; Nicholas Generous; Dylan George; David R Harper; Laurent Hébert-Dufresne; Michael A Johansson; Kevin Konty; Marc Lipsitch; Gabriel Milinovich; Joseph D Miller; Elaine O Nsoesie; Donald R Olson; Michael Paul; Philip M Polgreen; Reid Priedhorsky; Jonathan M Read; Isabel Rodríguez-Barraquer; Derek J Smith; Christian Stefansen; David L Swerdlow; Deborah Thompson; Alessandro Vespignani; Amy Wesolowski Journal: EPJ Data Sci Date: 2015-10-16 Impact factor: 3.184
Authors: John W Ayers; J Lee Westmaas; Eric C Leas; Adrian Benton; Yunqi Chen; Mark Dredze; Benjamin M Althouse Journal: JMIR Public Health Surveill Date: 2016-03-31