Apple is investigating whether the iPhone and Apple Watch could be used to "passively track data" on patients with Parkinson's disease, according to information published in Fast Company. Parkinson's patients often see their doctors who treat them every six months, with a long time between visits which can cause the symptoms to change, both for the better and for the worse, and this could lead to the dose of the medication they were taking was wrong for their actual disease state.
Stephen Friend, president and co-founder of Sage Bionetworks who joined Apple in June, is leading the investigation. Friend and, by extension, Sage Bionetworks, have been valuable partners for ResearchKit. The company is behind the Parkinson mPower research app, which enables Parkinson's sufferers to easily participate in the world's "largest and most comprehensive" research on the disease.
San Francisco Bay Area neurologist Diana Blum told Fast Company that the use of telephones to monitor Parkinson's patients could be an "important study window" to monitor the time between Parkinson's visits. patients to their doctors. Apple hopes Friend's research can help build an evidence base that confirms the effectiveness of using mobile devices to manage patient symptoms.
Apple has worked to strengthen its ResearchKit team. More specifically, with the hiring of Dr. Ricky Bloomfield of the Duke Center, who is at the forefront of the ResearchKit and HealthKit application. One of Bloomfield's fields of research is autism. The future of many Parkinson's patients can be seriously improved thanks to the research that has begun and in which Apple hopes to play a leading role.
