Bill Tancer is the general manager of global research at Hitwise and writes a column for Time.com called “Science of Search.” His recent column on “Restless Leg, Mumps and Other Maladies” addressed the effect of media attention to certain conditions & diseases.

The column is a neat summary of a pattern we had noticed: The most common cancers are not the most common cancer search terms.

Here is a list of estimated numbers of new cases and deaths for each common cancer type:

1) Skin
2) Prostate
3) Lung
4) Breast
5) Colon

And here is a list of the top 5 cancer search terms in the Hitwise database for April:

1) Cancer
2) Breast cancer
3) Lung cancer
4) Cervical cancer
5) Skin cancer

Colon is #7 and prostate is #9. Some possible explanations: Women do more health-related searches than men. Cervical cancer was in the news because of the HPV vaccine. Any other ideas or observations from the field?

Susannah Fox

Susannah Fox is the Entrepreneur in Residence at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She has contributed to this blog since its inception. Follow her on Twitter: @SusannahFox