WOMEN UNDERRATE IMPORTANCE OF
COLON CANCER, GOOD HOUSEKEEPING
SURVEY SHOWS

PHILADELPHIA, May 3, 2004 -- Women significantly underrate their risk for colon cancer and are not as concerned about the disease as they should be, according to a new Good Housekeeping survey conducted on behalf of the Entertainment Industry Foundation's National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance (EIF's NCCRA).

Although almost the same number of women and men are diagnosed with colon cancer every year (73,600 and 73,320 respectively), and nearly as many women die from it as men (28,320 and 28,410), women tend to focus on the risk of breast, ovarian and lung cancers and think of colon cancer as a "men's disease," according to the survey.

Katie Couric, who launched EIF's NCCRA after her husband, Jay Monahan, died of colon cancer in 1998, urged physicians attending the meeting to educate their female patients about the importance of screening for colon cancer. Colorectal cancer is curable more than 90 percent of the time when the disease is detected early.

"Among the major forms of cancer, colon cancer is the equal opportunity killer," said EIF's NCCRA co-founder Katie Couric in announcing results of the survey to physicians at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists 52nd Annual Clinical Meeting here today. "Women vastly underestimate their risk for this disease. Given that gynecologists function as the primary healthcare provider for many women, we are asking the OB-GYNs for help in addressing this problem," Couric said.

The survey showed that more than a quarter of American women think that men have a greater risk of colon cancer than women. While colon cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death among men and women combined, following only lung cancer, only 13 percent of women responding to the survey realized that colon cancer is one of the top two cancer killers.

The Good Housekeeping survey also showed that more than half of all women don't know that colon cancer can be treated successfully if detected.

"The lack of knowledge about the prevalence of colon cancer among women obviously has a direct bearing on whether women think it is important to get screened for colon cancer, which is the best way to prevent or detect the disease," Ms. Couric said. "We will save thousands of lives if screening for colon cancer becomes routine."

Ms. Couric, who had her own colonoscopy televised on the TODAY show two years ago, is credited with sparking a 20 percent increase in the number of colonoscopies performed in the months following the broadcast. Researchers dubbed it the "Couric Effect."

One reason many women don't get colononoscopies is that their doctors haven't mentioned it, according to the survey. Roughly four in 10 women over 50 (39%) said their doctor never recommended that they be tested or screened for colon cancer. More than a quarter of women over age 50 who haven't had a colonoscopy said their doctor never told them they should have one.

Conducted by Benenson Strategy Group, the survey was based on telephone interviews with 400 randomly selected women over age 30 and was conducted between April 15 and April 19. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percent.

Other findings of the survey include:

• Sixty percent of women over age 30 have never had a doctor recommend that they be screened for colon cancer.
• Twenty-five percent of women over age 50 whose doctors recommended colon cancer screening failed to obtain the tests.
• Of the nearly two thirds (58 percent) of women who have both a family doctor and an OBGYN, almost half (48 percent) have never discussed colon cancer with either. And only 15 percent of women with a family doctor and OBGYN said their OBGYN discussed the disease.
• Nationwide, 63 percent of women over 30 have never had a colonoscopy.
• When asked to name their biggest health concern, only one percent of women said colon cancer. Heart disease was the most frequent response, at 13 percent, followed by losing weight at nine percent and breast cancer and diabetes at 7 percent each.

When women were read a list of types of cancers, they said breast cancer was the type they worry about most, with 30 percent listing it as their top cancer concern, followed by skin cancer (13 percent) and lung cancer (12 percent). Colon cancer was chosen by nine percent of women as the cancer they were most personally concerned about.

About NCCCRA

The NCCRA is dedicated to the eradication of colon cancer by promoting education about the importance of early medical screening and funding cutting-edge research to develop betters tests, treatments and ultimately, a cure. The NCCRA was co-founded in March of 2000 by journalist Katie Couric, cancer activist Lilly Tartikoff, and the Entertainment Industry Foundation. As a result of the attention NCCRA and NBC's TODAY Show have focused on colorectal cancer, the number of colonoscopy screenings has increased almost 20% since March 2000. Researchers at the University of Michigan have referred to this as "the Couric effect." For more information visit www.eif.nccra.org.

About EIF

The NCCRA is a program of the Entertainment Industry Foundation. As the philanthropic heart of the entertainment industry, EIF has distributed hundreds of millions of dollars - and provided countless volunteer hours - to support charitable initiatives addressing some of the most critical issues facing society today. For more information visit www.eifoundation.org.

About Good Housekeeping

Founded in 1885, Good Housekeeping is published by Hearst Magazines, a unit of The Hearst Corporation (www.hearst.com) and one of the world's largest publishers of monthly magazines, with a total of 18 U.S. titles and 133 international editions. Hearst's magazines are also read by more U.S. adult women than any other monthly magazine publisher. The company also publishes 18 magazines in the United Kingdom through its wholly owned subsidiary, The National Magazine Company Limited.