• Jiawei Liu, Jeff Niederdeppe, Chau Tong, Drew Margolin, Rumi Chunara, Tanner Smith, and Andy J King.
• Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States of America. Electronic address: jl3992@cornell.edu.
• Prev Med. 2024 Aug 1; 185: 108022108022.

ObjectiveColorectal cancer (CRC) is the third leading cause of cancer death among both men and women in the United States. CRC-related events may increase media coverage and public attention, boosting awareness and prevention. This study examined associations between several types of CRC events (including unplanned celebrity cancer deaths and planned events like national CRC awareness months, celebrity screening behavior, and screening guideline changes) and news coverage, Twitter discussions, and Google search trends about CRC and CRC screening.MethodsWe analyzed data from U.S. national news media outlets, posts scraped from Twitter, and Google Trends on CRC and CRC screening during a three-year period from 2020 to 2022. We used burst detection methods to identify temporal spikes in the volume of news, tweets, and search after each CRC-related event.ResultsThere is a high level of heterogeneity in the impact of celebrity CRC events. Celebrity CRC deaths were more likely to precede spikes in news and tweets about CRC overall than CRC screening. Celebrity screening preceded spikes in news and tweets about screening but not searches. Awareness months and screening guideline changes did precede spikes in news, tweets, and searches about screening, but these spikes were inconsistent, not simultaneous, and not as large as those events concerning most prominent public figures.ConclusionsCRC events provide opportunities to increase attention to CRC. Media and public health professionals should actively intervene during CRC events to increase emphasis on CRC screening and evidence-based recommendations.Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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