The new frontier in neurocognitive monitoring and dementia screening: the Apple Watch

Bio­gen to Launch Pio­neer­ing Study to Devel­op Dig­i­tal Bio­mark­ers of Cog­ni­tive Health Using Apple Watch and iPhone (press release):

Bio­gen Inc. (Nas­daq: BIIB) today announced a new vir­tu­al research study, in col­lab­o­ra­tion with Apple, to inves­ti­gate the role Apple Watch and iPhone could play in mon­i­tor­ing cog­ni­tive per­for­mance and screen­ing for decline in cog­ni­tive health includ­ing mild cog­ni­tive impair­ment (MCI).

The mul­ti-year, obser­va­tion­al research study will be launched lat­er in 2021 and will enroll par­tic­i­pants includ­ing young and aging adults with a range of cog­ni­tive per­for­mance. Dri­ven by the pow­er­ful tech­nol­o­gy in Apple Watch and iPhone and Biogen’s in-depth knowl­edge of neu­ro­science, the study’s pri­ma­ry objec­tives are to devel­op dig­i­tal bio­mark­ers to help mon­i­tor cog­ni­tive per­for­mance over time and iden­ti­fy ear­ly signs of MCI.

For aging adults, cog­ni­tive health is becom­ing increas­ing­ly rec­og­nized as an impor­tant com­po­nent of over­all health. How­ev­er, sig­nif­i­cant delays exist in iden­ti­fy­ing declines in cog­ni­tive health includ­ing MCI, which impacts approx­i­mate­ly 15 – 20 per­cent of adults over the age of 65. The onset of symp­toms is often sub­tle, rang­ing from being eas­i­ly dis­tract­ed to mem­o­ry loss, and can take months to years before cog­ni­tive decline comes to the atten­tion of health care providers.

“Work­ing in col­lab­o­ra­tion with Bio­gen, we hope this study can help the med­ical com­mu­ni­ty bet­ter under­stand a per­son­’s cog­ni­tive per­for­mance by sim­ply hav­ing them engage with their Apple Watch and iPhone,” said Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief oper­at­ing offi­cer. “We’re look­ing for­ward to learn­ing about the impact our tech­nol­o­gy can have in deliv­er­ing bet­ter health out­comes through improved detec­tion of declin­ing cog­ni­tive health.”

News in Context:

• UCLA launch­es major men­tal health study col­lect­ing & ana­lyz­ing data from Apple wear­ables to bet­ter under­stand depres­sion and anxiety
• Apple/ Eli Lilly’s bet: Wear­able and mobile con­sumer devices may well help us detect cog­ni­tive impair­ment and dementia
• The FDA cre­ates new Dig­i­tal Health unit to reimag­ine reg­u­la­to­ry paths in the age of scal­able, AI-enhanced innovation
• Five rea­sons the future of brain enhance­ment is dig­i­tal, per­va­sive and (hope­ful­ly) bright
• Mind­strong Health iden­ti­fies dig­i­tal bio­mark­ers of cog­ni­tive func­tion using smart­phone data
• Neu­rotech­nol­o­gy can improve our lives…if we first address these Pri­va­cy and Informed Con­sent issues