| Literature DB >> 35626141 |
Yoshito Nishimura1,2, Jared D Acoba1.
Abstract
Breast Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM) has a long history of over 30 years, established in 1985 to occur every October, and the National Breast Cancer Foundation now leads the operation. There have been no studies to evaluate the impact of the BCAM on public awareness of breast cancer. We analyzed the impact of BCAM on public awareness of breast cancer in the U.S. from 2012 to 2021 using the relative search volume (RSV) of Google Trends as a surrogate. We also analyzed the impact of Lung Cancer Awareness Month (LCAM) and Prostate Cancer Awareness Month (PCAM) on public awareness of lung and prostate cancer, respectively, to see differences in their effectiveness among the health observances for the top three most common cancers in the U.S. We performed a joinpoint regression analysis to identify statistically significant time points of a change in trend. There were joinpoints around BCAM for "Breast cancer" every year from 2012 to 2021, with a significant increase in the weekly RSVs from 21.9% to 46.7%. Except for 2013 and 2015 for "Lung cancer", when significant increases in the RSV at 1.8% and 1.2% per week were observed around LCAM, no joinpoints were noted around LCAM or PCAM. These results imply that BCAM has successfully improved the public awareness of breast cancer in the U.S. compared to other representative health observances, likely due to the effective involvement of non-medical industries, influencers affected by breast cancer, and an awareness symbol.Entities:
Keywords: Breast Cancer Awareness Month; Google Trends; breast cancer; trend analysis
Year: 2022 PMID: 35626141 PMCID: PMC9140129 DOI: 10.3390/cancers14102534
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Cancers (Basel) ISSN: 2072-6694 Impact factor: 6.575
Figure 1Google Trends search strategy.
Trend changes in relative search volumes of the term “Breast cancer” (2012–2021).
| Term | Year | Period 1 | Period 2 | Period 3 | Period 4 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks | WPC (%) | Weeks | WPC (%) | Weeks | WPC (%) | Weeks | WPC (%) | ||
| Breast cancer | 2012 | 1–35 | −0.7 * | 35–41 | 29.5 * | 41–45 | −29.7 * | 45–53 | −4.1 * |
| 2013 | 1–35 | −0.5 * | 35–40 | 36.6 * | 40–44 | −27.1 * | 44–52 | −5.4 * | |
| 2014 | 1–35 | −0.3 | 35–40 | 36.2 * | 40–44 | −29.2 * | 44–52 | −6.0 * | |
| 2015 | 1–35 | 0.2 | 36–40 | 42.7 * | 40–44 | −26.2 * | 44–52 | −6.0 * | |
| 2016 | 1–35 | −0.2 | 35–41 | 21.9 * | 41–45 | −25.9 * | 45–52 | −2.4 | |
| 2017 | 1–37 | 0 | 37–40 | 46.7 * | 40–46 | −17.5 * | 46–53 | −1.9 | |
| 2018 | 1–36 | 0.2 | 36–39 | 43.0 * | 39–44 | −17.8 * | 44–52 | −3.6 * | |
| 2019 | 1–35 | −0.1 | 35–40 | 24.3 * | 40–44 | −20.9 * | 44–52 | −3.2 * | |
| 2020 | 1–14 | −4.0 | 14–36 | 1.6 * | 36–39 | 20.3 | 39–52 | −6.7 * | |
| 2021 | 1–36 | 0 | 36–40 | 23.6 * | 40–44 | −18.1 * | 44–50 | −5.4 * | |
* Significantly different from zero (p < 0.05). Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; WPC, weekly percentage change. Periods were separated as Periods 1–4, when the trend changes were statistically detected in the Joinpoint regression analysis during the study period. For each year’s results, weekly percentage changes are shown.
Figure 2Trends in the weekly relative search volumes of “Breast cancer”, “Lung cancer”, and “Prostate cancer” in the United States (2012–2021). Weekly relative search volumes (RSVs) for the search terms “Breast cancer”, “Lung cancer”, and “Prostate cancer” are described. World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (WAAW) occurred in the 47th week of 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, and 2020 and the 46th week of 2017. In the search results of the worldwide analysis in 2017 and 2020, the third joinpoints were identified around the time of WAAW (during the 48th week and 47th week, respectively). The number of slopes is determined by the number of joinpoints identified by the analysis. Joinpoints are the time points when statistically significant changes in the linear slopes are noted.
Trend changes in relative search volumes of the term “Lung cancer” (2012–2021).
| Term | Year | Period 1 | Period 2 | Period 3 | Period 4 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks/Months | WPC (%)/MPC (%) | Weeks/Months | WPC (%)/MPC (%) | Weeks/Months | WPC (%)/MPC (%) | Weeks/Months | WPC (%)/MPC (%) | ||
| Lung cancer | 2012 | 1–53 | −0.4 * | ||||||
| 2013 | 1–33 | −0.5 * | 33–46 | 1.8 * | 46–52 | −4.6 * | |||
| 2014 | 1–34 | −0.4 | 34–45 | 1.9 | 45–52 | −4.9 * | |||
| 2015 | 1–19 | 1.2 * | 19–25 | −3.9 | 25–46 | 1.2 * | 46–52 | −4.8 * | |
| 2016 | 1–19 | 0 | 19–24 | −4.9 | 24–52 | 0.7 * | |||
| 2017 | 1–53 | −0.2 | |||||||
| 2018 | 1–52 | 0 | |||||||
| 2019 | 1–52 | −0.1 | |||||||
| 2020 | 1–17 | −3.4 * | 17–52 | 0.3 | |||||
| 2021 | 1–38 | −0.4 * | 38–50 | −2.8 * | |||||
| 2012–2021 | 1–7 | −4.4 * | 7–98 | 0.3 * | 98–101 | −6.0 | 101–120 | −0.1 | |
* Significantly different from zero (p < 0.05). Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; MPC, monthly percentage change; WPC, weekly percentage change. Periods were separated as Periods 1–4, when the trend changes were statistically detected in the Joinpoint regression analysis during the study period. For the results from 2012 to 2021, monthly percentage changes are shown. For each year’s results, weekly percentage changes are shown.
Trend changes in relative search volumes of the term “Prostate cancer” (2012–2021).
| Term | Year | Period 1 | Period 2 | Period 3 | Period 4 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks/Months | WPC (%)/MPC (%) | Weeks/Months | WPC (%)/MPC (%) | Weeks/Months | WPC (%)/MPC (%) | Weeks/Months | WPC (%)/MPC (%) | ||
| Prostate cancer | 2012 | 1–50 | 0.1 * | 50–53 | −12.7 | ||||
| 2013 | 1–45 | 0.4 * | 45–52 | −5.9 * | |||||
| 2014 | 1–22 | 0.3 | 22–26 | −5.0 | 26–45 | 1.7 * | 45–52 | −7.2 * | |
| 2015 | 1–47 | 0.1 | 47–52 | −5.0 | |||||
| 2016 | 1–52 | 0 | |||||||
| 2017 | 1–53 | 0.1 | |||||||
| 2018 | 1–35 | −0.2 | 35–41 | 3.4 | 41–52 | −1.9 * | |||
| 2019 | 1–52 | 0.1 | |||||||
| 2020 | 1–8 | 0.9 | 8–12 | −12.2 * | 12–45 | 1.5 * | 45–52 | −5.0 * | |
| 2021 | 1–21 | 1.1 * | 21–50 | −0.4 * | |||||
| 2012–2021 | 1–53 | −0.3 * | 53–97 | 0.6 * | 97–100 | −8.7 | 100–120 | 1.5 * | |
* Significantly different from zero (p < 0.05). Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; MPC, monthly percentage change; WPC, weekly percentage change. Periods were separated as Periods 1–4, when the trend changes were statistically detected in the Joinpoint regression analysis during the study period.
Figure 3The trends in monthly relative search volumes between 2012 and 2021 with relevant search terms. Monthly RSVs for the search terms “Breast cancer”, “Lung cancer”, and “Prostate cancer” between 2012 and 2021 are shown.