Apple Watch making ‘unmistakable progress’ in identifying risk of Parkinson’s
Apple’s revolutionary Apple Watch is being leveraged to help identify people at risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, the degenerative brain disorder that affects more than a half million Americans.
While there is no cure for Parkinson’s and treatment options can be daunting, people with the disease can now turn to technology spawned by the Apple Watch to take an active role in their care much as continuous glucose monitors have helped people manage diabetes better. Over the past year, the Food and Drug Administration has cleared three Apple Watch apps from independent developers to track symptoms associated with Parkinson’s that can help inform treatment decisions for people and their doctors.
There are significant hurdles before this technology could be applied on a large scale. But an examination by STAT, including interviews with current and former Apple employees, leading neurologists, entrepreneurs developing Parkinson’s apps, and people with the disease, traces unmistakable progress in the odyssey that brought the tracking technology to people’s wrists. It underscores the scientific and business challenges of trying to apply new technologies in new disease areas, but also the possibilities for consumer devices to change how disease is identified and treated.
“I still don’t think we’ve even scratched a fraction of what the potential could be,” said Ray Dorsey, a neurologist and researcher at the University of Rochester who worked on the first study of Parkinson’s using Apple devices in 2015. “I think we’re going to rapidly get to a point where these tools are going to identify people who are at high risk for developing Parkinson’s disease.”
MacDailyNews Take: This seems like something that’s perfect to marry to AI, looking for important patterns.
MacDailyNews Note: In June 2022, an app that uses motion sensors built into the Apple Watch to monitor symptoms of Parkinson disease gained FDA clearance. Since its launch in 2015, the mPower app has enrolled over 10,000 participants, making it the largest Parkinson’s study in history — with 93 percent of participants never having taken part in any kind of research before. The app helps researchers better understand Parkinson’s disease by using the gyroscope and other iPhone features to measure dexterity, balance, gait, and memory. Researchers have gained greater insight into the factors that make symptoms better or worse, such as sleep, exercise, and mood. More info here.
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[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
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