Apple exploring use of tech sensors for detecting mental health problems: Sumbul Desai

Apple, a global technology giant, has partnered with the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to conduct research aimed at understanding whether sensing elements in technology can detect early signs of mental health problems in individuals.

During a Fireside Chat event at the 20th Bio-Asia Summit in Hyderabad, Sumbul Desai, Vice President of Health at Apple, announced the collaboration with UCLA for the study.

“We are doing a study with UCLA to really understand what technology sensing elements can give you an indication of your mental health. That's a study that we are doing with UCLA. They have a grand challenge for mental health, so we're focused on that to start,” she said.

During the Fireside Chat event, Sumbul Desai emphasized the importance of validating signals that could indicate a clinical condition and the significance of contextual information in the research.

“We view it as a journey to go on, to be able to understand not just physical health, but holistic overall health and mental health as an important part of overall health. So we're excited to see what we'll learn through that research,” she added.

Emphasising on the role of data privacy, the Apple VP health said the former was at the core of everything the company was doing, adding that technology should provide same level of privacy as one expects from a doctor.

“One of the biggest misconceptions often is many people say, you (Apple) must have access to all this data and be able to do all this learning on it. And the answer is, we do not have access to that data,” she said.

Desai said the data generated from an individual after using the features like irregular heart rhythm notification, walking steadiness and retrospective ovulation estimates can only be seen by the user and Apple as a company does not have access to that data.

The Apple VP further said that heart health was an important area for the company but they were also focused on a number of other areas such as mobility and women's health.

“We are innovating on proactive, preventative health, where you are notified even before you may have symptoms,” she added.

Apple health along with Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is working on women's health data so that new guidelines can be formed based on those findings.

Desai said that the company is finding a number of women experiencing Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), also having irregular heartbeat notifications.

“So we're able to show the connections across those different elements of heart rate movement, and that impacted by your cycle or vice versa, how cycles may be impacting overall women's health as well,” she added.