Apple ResearchKit downloaded on 60,000 iPhones

MUMBAI, INDIA: Apple has released a ResearchKit, a software framework designed for medical and health research that helps doctors, scientists, researchers and developers gather data by using mobile devices.

The software enables researchers to develop their own apps and developers can also contribute new research modules to the open source framework.

The first research apps developed using ResearchKit study asthma, breast cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and Parkinson’s disease, and have enrolled over 60,000 iPhone users in the first few weeks of being available on the App Store.

Developers can also build new modules based on the open source code and contribute them to ResearchKit. The initial customizable modules address the most common elements found in research studies—participant consent, surveys and active tasks.

Participant consent: enables researchers to access a visual e-consent template. Researchers can use videos to explain the study and an interactive quiz to confirm the participant’s assent to a study.

Surveys: provides a pre-built user interface that makes it easy to customize questions and answers for participants to complete and immediately share with researchers.

Active Tasks: enables researchers to gather more targeted data for their study by inviting participants to perform activities that generate data using iPhone’s advanced sensors. The modules include tasks to measure motor activities, fitness, cognition and voice, and with the framework available as open source, the research community can contribute even more active tasks to ResearchKit.

ResearchKit turns iPhone into a tool for medical research. When granted permission by the participant, ResearchKit apps can access data from advanced iPhone sensors like the accelerometer, gyroscope, microphone and GPS to gain insight into a participant’s activity levels, motor impairments, memory, etc. ResearchKit apps can access and use data from the Health app such as weight, blood pressure, glucose levels and asthma inhaler use, which are measured by third-party devices and apps.

“Studies that historically attracted a few hundred participants are now attracting participants in the tens of thousands,” said Jeff Williams, Senior Vice President, Operations, Apple. “Medical researchers all over the world are actively exploring how ResearchKit can help them study even more diseases, and we believe the impact on global understanding of health and wellness will be profound.”

“ResearchKit could help us reach people all over the world who are willing to contribute to medical research, but might not know how or be able to get involved,” said Ricky Bloomfield, Director, Mobile Technology Strategy and Assistant Professor in Internal Medicine & Pediatrics at Duke University. “Our team of researchers is now launching the development of an exciting new study using the ResearchKit framework, which will enable us to gather data quickly, from more participants than we are typically able to reach.”

“Because of the ubiquity of iPhone and the implementation of consent, survey and instrumented data collection, ResearchKit has enormous promise for leading the transformation of how we engage patients in research,” said Kenneth Mandl, MD, MPH, of the Boston Children’s Hospital Informatics Program. “Now that we have access to the ResearchKit framework, our team can start customizing the initial modules and even design new ones for our particular study.”

Currently ResearchKit apps are available on the App Store in the US at www.appstore.com/researchkit, and will be rolling out to more countries in the near future. iPhone 5, iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and the latest generation of iPod touch support ResearchKit apps.