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Last year, Apple debuted a suite of medical tools called ResearchKit, which could forever change the way doctors study common health problems.
Basically, Apple built tools into the iPhone which allow researchers to build sophisticated medical apps. These apps use the iPhone's suite of sensors to monitor location, heart rate, and other factors.
Its potential is powerful when you think about it: ResearchKit allows doctors and researchers to collect more data from more patients than ever before, which could lead to findings that were impossible before doctors could collect study data daily through a smartphone.
Doctors have embraced the platform and created apps that track and study autism, concussions, heart disease, epilepsy, and other health problems. Here's a look at a few amazing ResearchKit apps developed so far:
At Duke University, researchers are using ResearchKit to test the reliability of smart phone video to see whether it can be used as a screening tool for autism and other developmental disorders.iTunesThe app shows a child four short videos, while recording their reaction to the videos. Then the app uses facial recognition technology to "locate key features of the child’s face so that we can measure emotions and head position."Duke/Autism & Beyond
Although parents have the ability to choose not to share data about their children, they tend to be willing to provide it to researchers. "The data quality is excellent, proving for the first time that we can observe behaviors in natural environments using ubiquitous devices; and secondly, parents and caregivers are very helpful in sharing data with responsible teams doing fundamental work to help their children," Duke researchers said.
Here's an example of the app's diagnostic videos. Eventually, the team that designed the app envisions the technology being used to study temper tantrums, picky eating, and child anxiety.
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Helen Egger, M.D., leader of the research team and chief of Duke’s Division of Child and Family Mental Health and Developmental Neuroscience, warns that the app can't be used to diagnose children. Yet.
Download Autism & Beyond here.
The NYU Langone Medical Center has developed an app that analyzes users who have recently suffered a concussion.iTunes
The Concussion Tracker study uses the Apple Watch, too. If patients usually wear a smartwatch, then they can track their heart rate and report it back to the researchers. Recent studies have indicated that concussed people have elevated heart rates.iTunes
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