Apple is looking into whether its devices can be used to monitor data in real time on the well-being of patients with Parkinson’s, reports Fast Company.
The company is investigating to see if the iPhone and Apple Watch can be used to passively monitor data in real time. And it’s hoping to build an evidence base to demonstrate the effectiveness of mobile monitoring, Fast Company adds.
This effort is purportedly being overseen by Stephen, who joined Apple from Sage Bionetworks, a nonprofit that provides tools for biomedical research. Sage has been a high-profile partner for some of Apple’s ResearchKit, HealthKit, and CareKit applications.
ResearchKit turns an iPhone into a tool for medical research by helping doctors, scientists and other researchers gather data more frequently and more accurately from participants anywhere in the world using iPhone apps. Participants enrolled in these app-based studies can review an interactive informed consent process, easily complete active tasks or submit survey responses, and choose how their health data is shared with researchers, making contributions to medical research easier than ever.
iPhone apps using CareKit make it easier for individuals to keep track of care plans and monitor symptoms and medication. With the ability to share information with doctors, nurses or family members, CareKit apps help people take a more active role in their health, he adds.
Apple’s Health app on iOS devices gathers the information you choose from your various health apps and fitness devices, and provides you with a current overview in one place. It offers developers the ability for health and fitness apps to communicate with each other. With your permission, each app can use specific information from other apps to provide a more comprehensive way to manage your health and fitness. For example, the Nike+ apps using NikeFuel will be able to pull in other key Healthmetrics such as sleep and nutrition to build a custom user profile and improve athletic performance.
HealthKit is the accompanying developer application programming interface (API) included in the iOS SDK (Software Development Kit) for the Mac. It is used by software developers to design applications that have extensibility and that can interact with the Health application on iOS.
