New study uses data from iPhones and Apple Watches to detect signs of dementia

Tim Cook once stated that Apple's greatest contribution to humanity will be in the area of ​​health. In addition to the creation of gadgets (especially Apple Watch) increasingly focused on monitoring health information, this data can also contribute to the analysis of other medical issues.

Amidst the range of possible studies that can leverage the health data obtained from these gadgets, Apple joined pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and startup Evidation to determine if information collected by iPhones and Apple Watches can be used to detect early signs of dementia and even differentiate them from Alzheimer's disease, as reported by CNBC.

With this research, we analyze how daily behavioral data collected by iPhones, Apple Watches, and Beddit sleep monitors can be effective in differentiating between individuals with moderate cognitive impairment and early Alzheimer's disease from those without symptoms.

The research paper, entitled “Developing Measures of Cognitive Impairment in the Real World from Consumer-Grade Multimodal Sensor Streams” (something like “Developing Real-World Cognitive Impairment Measures from Multimodal Consumption Sensors” in direct translation) followed 31 people with cognitive impairment and 82 without any dementia for a period of 12 weeks.

According to the researchers, the analysis of the data obtained by gadgets It could successfully differentiate individuals with signs of dementia from those who have no cognitive impairment.

Early detection of dementia is important since the sooner symptoms are detected, the easier it can be to control to increase that person's quality of life.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 50 million people worldwide have dementia, with about 10 million new cases appearing each year.

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