Can Celebrity Sickness Boost Public Health?

(Sept. 8) -- Celebrities: They're just like us. That's true of putting on pants (one leg at a time!), grocery store trips, drunken faux pas and also, more seriously, illness.

Surprisingly, though, when the rich and famous get sick, their diagnoses might actually improve the health outcomes of their fans and followers.

That's the conclusion out of the United Kingdom this week, after a research team at the Warwick Medical School evaluated the impact of reality-TV phenomenon Jade Goody's cervical cancer diagnosis and eventual death.

Goody, who announced her diagnosis to the press in 2008, is a prime example of media coverage converging with public health screenings. Having made a name for herself on "Big Brother: U.K.," she gave the British press remarkable access to her yearlong treatment efforts.

Between 2008 and 2009, as Goody struggled through widely publicized hospital stays and chemotherapy regimes, cervical cancer screenings in the U.K. rose from 77.85 percent to 78.94 percent -- a modest increase, but one that curbed a six-year stretch of lagging screenings in the country.

"Our study suggests that Jade Goody's diagnosis and death led to an increase in the number of people looking for information about cervical cancer and screening," David Metcalfe, a lead author of the study, told the Press Association. "The reversal of the downward trend is the most significant element as figures had been steadily falling since 2002."

Indeed, it's remarkable that Goody -- whose celebrity status was less than a decade old at the time of her death -- would have an impact on public health screenings. And in fact, her influence is dwarfed by the results of other recent renowned public diagnoses. Among them:

Kylie Minogue
The singer's 2005 diagnosis with breast cancer led to a 20-fold surge in Australia's media coverage of the illness, according to a study published in the Medical Journal of Australia. And only two weeks after Minogue announced her condition, researchers observed a 101 percent increase in screenings among eligible women.

Patrick Swayze
The "Dirty Dancing" mega-hunk, who died last year of pancreatic cancer, generated much-needed interest in what's largely considered a "neglected cancer."

"I dream that the word 'cure' will no longer be followed by the words 'it's impossible,' " Swayze told audiences of a "Stand Up to Cancer" simulcast in 2008. "Together, we can make a world where cancer no longer means living with fear, without hope or worse."

Katie Couric
She wasn't even sick, but still Couric's campaign for increased awareness of colon cancer -- the disease that killed her husband, Jay Monahan -- had a profound influence. A 2003 study in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that colonoscopies increased from 15 to 18 percent in the nine months following her televised push for more screenings.

Michael Douglas
Recently diagnosed with throat cancer, the 65-year-old scion of the silver screen made headlines for speaking candidly about his illness, his chances for full recovery and his faith in humor as a form of therapy, all from one unmissable platform: the stage of CBS's "The Late Show With David Letterman." It remains to be seen just what effect his words will have on his fans, but he's certainly correct in asserting that laughter is one of the best forms of medicine, as several new studies have shown.

Despite the ability of stars to make a positive health contribution -- in the form of increased illness awareness, earlier detection and more research dollars -- not every famous face is leveraging their personal problems for public health. Dick Cheney "passed up an opportunity to educate the public about heart disease" after suffering his fourth heart attack in 2000, notes a 2001 report in the Journal of Western Medicine.

Why? Researchers speculate that "guilt-free" illnesses -- attributable to heredity or chance -- are easier for celebrities to own up to.

"Perhaps Cheney was reluctant because many people blame heart disease on the victim," the report reads, "considering it to be self-inflicted by a high-fat diet, lack of exercise, and smoking -- not bad genes or bad luck."