From time to time, Apple launches new studies to add health features to its products. This happened with the recently released hearing aid functions on AirPods Pro 2. Now, the company is launching its Apple Health Study initiative to understand how its technologies can improve physical health, mental health, and overall wellbeing.
This initiative will include tests with the iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods, and it will be conducted in collaboration with Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a leading research hospital and a major teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School.
“We’ve only just begun to scratch the surface of how technology can improve our understanding of human health,” said Calum MacRae, M.D., Ph.D., a cardiologist, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and principal investigator of the Apple Health Study at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “We are excited to be part of the Apple Health Study, as it will continue to explore connections across different areas of health using technology that so many people carry with them every day.”
Apple says the Apple Health Study builds on learnings from the Apple Women’s Health Study, the Apple Hearing Study, and the Apple Heart and Movement Study, which combined have more than 350,000 participants across the US.
Not only does Apple want to understand how the technology can impact people’s health, but researchers will also explore connections across different areas of health, including activity, aging, cardiovascular health, circulatory health, cognition, hearing, menstrual health, mental health, metabolic health, mobility, neurologic health, respiratory health, sleep, and more.
Apple says the Apple Health Study is currently open for enrollment through the Research app for participants who live in the US, meet the minimum age requirement, and complete the informed consent process.
BGR will let you know once we learn more about what this initiative is able to discover.
