Apple Watch aid for Parkinsons’s disease patients

A new piece of software for the Apple Watch promises to help Parkison’s disease patients better manage their symptoms.

The “Movement Disorder” API will allow developers to create apps that can track two symptoms associated with the syndrome - tremors and dyskinesia, or involuntary movement - continuously throughout the day, reports Engadget.

The new software has been built for Apple’s ResearchKit development tool and is due for release later this year as part of the watchOS 5 update.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up

According to The Daily Telegraph, Parkinson’s patients will be able to measure their “dexterity, balance, gait and memory” when an Apple Watch is strapped to their wrist.

The data gathered by the device can be sent to researchers to help study the disease, as well as being shared with doctors, “potentially limiting [patients’] visits to their specialist”, says the newspaper.

Apple’s ResearchKit could be used to assist people with other diseases and disorders, too.

Researchers at US-based digital health firm Cardiogram have discovered that the Apple Watch may be able to help spot stroke symptoms, by monitoring irregular heartbeats.

Other studies indicate that the ResearchKit software may be able to help doctors detect autism, melanoma and epilepsy.