When she leaves Barbie Land for the real world, Barbie must keep up with her regular health maintenance, which includes seeing her gynecologist . A new study published Thursday in the journal JAMA Network Open has found that the ending in the 2023 blockbuster film “Barbie” had an influence on online search interest in terms around gynecology, the branch of medicine that deals with women’s reproductive health. By analyzing 34 search queries related to understanding gynecologic care, the study authors had found that in the week following the film’s release in July 2023, there was about a 51 per cent increase of searches for “gynecologist” and “gynecology.
” The researchers also looked at the influence for the search of “gynecologist definition” combined with related queries like “What does a gynecologist do?” The category had overall fewer searches than “gynecologist” and “gynecology,” but it saw a 154 per cent increase when compared with definition searches from the previous week. References in pop culture can influence health behaviours among the public, such as when former “Today” host Katie Couric live streamed her colonoscopy in 2000, which was found to increase colonoscopies by 21 per cent shortly after, and Angelina Jolie published an essay on having breast cancer, which led to a 64 per cent increase in genetic testing, the authors note in the study. Those examples and others inspired the researchers to look into the “Barbie” effect.