(HealthDay is the new name for HealthScoutNews.)
WEDNESDAY, July 16, 2003 (HealthDayNews) -- It's called the "Katie Couric Effect."
The NBC television newswoman had a colonoscopy live on national television in March 2000 and in the following weeks and months, the numbers of people across the country having colonoscopies increased more than 20 percent, says a study by researchers at the University of Michigan Health System and the University of Iowa.
That means Couric did more than raise public awareness about the importance of the test used to check for colon cancer. Her example also encouraged more people to have a colonoscopy, the study says.
That higher rate of colonoscopies lasted for nearly a year after the show, and the proportion of colonoscopies performed on women and people under age 50 rose. That echoes the audience demographics of Couric's "Today" show.
The study appears in the July 14 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
"These findings suggest that a celebrity spokesperson, even one without the specific disease that he or she is promoting, can have a sizeable impact on the public behavior related to that disease," researcher Dr. Mark Fendrick, University of Michigan Health System, says in a news release.
But the study didn't reveal whether the people who decided to get colonoscopies after watching the show were those facing the greatest risk of colon cancer.
Colonoscopies can catch and remove any precancerous polyps in the colon. Current guidelines recommend the test mainly for people over age 50. They face the greatest risk and should have a colonoscopy performed every 10 years.
The study was based on the number of colonoscopies performed each month by 400 gastroenterologists at 42 sites in 22 states starting 20 months before Couric's colonoscopy and ending nine months after that show.
More information
Here's where you can learn more about colonoscopy.
