Apple working on iPhone features to help detect depression, cognitive decline

Using an array of sensor data that includes mobility, physical activity, sleep patterns, typing behavior and more, the researchers hope they can manipulate the digital signals associated with target positions to help the algorithms reliably, the people said. to be made to trace them, the people said. Apple expects this to form the basis of unique features for its devices, according to people and documents.

Apple’s efforts stem from research partnerships with the University of California, Los Angeles, which is studying stress, anxiety and depression, and pharmaceutical company Biogen Inc., which is studying mild cognitive impairment. According to People and Documents, “Seabreeze” is Apple’s code name for the UCLA project and “Pi” is the Biogen project’s code name.

Biogen began its study on Monday, but hasn’t revealed many details about Apple’s study. The drug company received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration this summer for a new drug to treat mild cognitive impairment.

Representatives for Apple, Biogen and UCLA declined to comment.

Much of Apple’s past health work has focused on the features of its smartwatches. According to people familiar with the plans, mental-health and cognitive-declination research takes advantage of more sensitive iPhone data and shows that Apple’s health unit is now looking at features for the company’s flagship product.

People said the research projects are still in the early stages, and may never lead to new device features. While prior academic studies have shown some evidence that people with certain mental-health conditions use their digital devices differently than others, it remains to be seen whether there are reliable algorithms for detecting conditions, according to the researchers. can be made.

Proper diagnosis of mental-health conditions and brain disorders usually requires close supervision by specialists, but many people do not have access to such specialists. Researchers working with Apple hope their work will lead to a more widely available alternative.

While the effort is in its early stages, Apple’s top executives are upbeat about the prospect. Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams, who oversees Apple’s health unit, has enthusiastically spoken to employees about its ability to address rising rates of depression and anxiety, as well as other brain disorders that people have shown them to be in efforts. Heard talking about

If they are successful, Apple and its partners could improve the detection of conditions that affect millions of people around the world. But the extent to which user tracking may be required raises privacy concerns. To address them, Apple is aiming for algorithms that work on users’ devices and do not send data to Apple servers, the documents show.

Achieving its health ambitions may depend on trusting Apple with consumers’ sensitive data, underscoring why privacy is a business imperative for the company. The new research comes at a time when Apple faces intense scrutiny over how it plans to access user data to warn child pornography executives, who have fought years against governments seeking to access their customers’ devices. The aftermath of the battle raised new concerns about the company’s commitment to privacy.

The company has said that privacy is paramount, arguing that the child-pornography initiative aims to prevent intrusion as well as combat the exploitation of children. Apple has said it is slowing down the effort.

According to Rock Health, a venture-investment and advisory firm, hundreds of millions of companies are chasing opportunity in the broader digital behavioral-health sector, where startups are on pace to nearly double the record $2.7 billion in funding raised this year in 2020. are on.

The pandemic led to a rise in mental-health complaints. The percentage of adults reporting symptoms related to anxiety or depression reached 41% in January, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, nearly quadruple the figure at the beginning of 2019. The Alzheimer’s Association estimates that mild cognitive impairment, which can develop into dementia, affects about 5 million Americans over the age of 60.

Apple has a third brain-related research partnership with Duke University that it has not disclosed. According to the documents and people familiar with the work, the aim is to create an algorithm to help detect childhood autism. According to the docs, the research uses the iPhone’s camera to see how young children focus, how often they move back and forth, and other measures.

Apple developed the previous health features after working with researchers. For example, work at Stanford University showed that its smartwatch could detect an irregular heart rhythm known as atrial fibrillation. Soon after Apple added a Watch feature to do just that.

UCLA said its research into the signs of stress, anxiety and depression began with a pilot phase that tracked 150 people’s Apple Watch and iPhone data and began with 3,000 people starting this year. Similar data tracking will continue with the main phase.

According to the documents and people familiar with the study, UCLA researchers will track data from the iPhone’s video camera, keyboard and audio sensors, and clock data related to movement, vital signs and sleep. Data that can be used include analysis of participants’ facial expressions, how they speak, their walking speed and frequency, sleep patterns, and heart and respiratory rates. According to people familiar with the research and docs, they can also measure their typing speed, the frequency of their typos and the content of what they type, among other data points.

Each bit of data can give researchers clues about device users’ emotions, concentration, energy levels, states of mind and more, according to People and Documents.

To compare this data with other measures of stress, anxiety or depression, researchers have participants complete questionnaires about how they feel, according to people familiar with the work and documents. They are also looking at the amount of the stress hormone cortisol in the hair follicles of participants, according to the documents and one of these individuals.

If research finds any of these data are related to relevant mental-health conditions, the hope is to turn those signals into an app or feature that can warn people they may be at risk and Can motivate them to care, according to documents and people familiar with the work.

Biogen and Apple said in January that they are collaborating on a study to use the iPhone and Apple Watch to track cognitive function over time and identify mild cognitive impairment, a condition that develops into Alzheimer’s. Might be possible. The two-year study aims to follow nearly 20,000 participants — half of them at high risk of cognitive impairment — and will use device data similar to UCLA mental-health research, according to documents and people familiar with the matter. The work follows a 2019 feasibility study showing that 31 adults with cognitive impairment displayed different behavior on their Apple devices than healthy older adults.

According to a person familiar with the matter, Biogen is collaborating with the study because it hopes it can help Apple develop an iPhone feature to detect mild cognitive impairment early and help relevant users to seek care earlier. can encourage. According to the documents and a person familiar with the work, the company will compare the data against standard tests of brain health, including traditional cognitive assessments and scans that track plaque buildup in the brain.

Biogen’s drug Aduhelm, which costs about $56,000 a year, was approved by the FDA earlier this year for people with early-stage Alzheimer’s.