Couric's colonoscopy caused climb in colon cancer checks

When NBC television personality Katie Couric underwent a colonoscopy live on national television in March 2000, she did more than raise public awareness of the powerful colon-cancer screening test—she also raised the rate at which Americans signed up to get their own colons checked.

That's the finding of a new study from researchers at the U-M Health System (UMHS) and the University of Iowa (UI). In the July 14 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, the team reports that colonoscopy rates nationwide jumped more than 20 percent in the days and months after Couric's on-air test on the "Today Show." The researchers have dubbed the phenomenon the "Katie Couric Effect."

The results also show that the higher rate of colonoscopies was sustained for nearly a year after the show, and that the proportion of colonoscopies performed on women and people under age 50 rose, echoing "Today Show" audience demographics.

"These findings suggest that a celebrity spokesperson, even one without the specific disease that he or she is promoting, can have a sizable impact on the public behavior related to that disease," says Dr. Mark Fendrick, the U-M physician who helped lead the research team and an associate professor of internal medicine at the Medical School who co-directs the U-M Center for Healthcare Outcomes, Innovation and Cost Effectiveness Studies.

However, the authors note, their study doesn't reveal whether the "Today Show" viewers inspired by Couric to get colonoscopies were those whose risk of colon cancer was highest. Although colonoscopy can catch and remove pre-cancerous polyps in any colon, current national guidelines recommend it mainly for people age 50 and older, who face the highest risk and should get checked every 10 years.

Dr. Peter Cram, a former U-M internal medicine lecturer now at UI's College of Medicine, was the lead author. The research team also included U-M gastroenterologist Dr. John Inadomi; U-M general internist Dr. Mark Cowen, who also is affiliated with St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor; Daniel Carpenter of the U-M departments of Political

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