Apple today announced the launch of the Apple Health Study in cooperation with Brigham and Women’s Hospital, which aims to further understand how technology — including the company’s iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods — can play a role in improving all aspects of a person’s health, including “physical health, mental health, and overall wellbeing.”
The study, which is available in the Research app, will also explore relationships between various areas of health, such as mental health’s impact on heart rate, or how sleep can influence exercise.
Brigham and Women’s Hospital ia 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.”
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 U.S.
The study aims to understand how data from technology can be used to predict, detect, monitor, and manage changes in participants’ health. Researchers will also explore connections across different areas of health, spanning a number of areas, including “activity, aging, cardiovascular health, circulatory health, cognition, hearing, menstrual health, mental health, metabolic health, mobility, neurologic health, respiratory health, sleep, and more.”
The Apple Health Study is designed to explore changes in health and how technology can help identify important insights for future product development. When one aspect of a person’s health changes, their body can emit a signal, either physically or emotionally. Changes in health can affect one or more parts of the body, and others may affect wellbeing overall, so helping to identify these changes earlier can help offer a more proactive approach to health. For example, early detection of a change in hearing health could reduce the risk for cognitive decline.
The Apple Health Study is currently open for enrollment through the Research app. Participants must reside in the U.S., meet the minimum age requirements, and complete the informed consent process.
