New Study Aims to Determine Whether iPhone and Apple Watch Can Detect Early Signs of Dementia

[spazzcat]

I think that family and friends can probably do a better job detecting it.

They are normally in denial.

 

[Romeo_Nightfall]

Crazy. I mean, to see the advancements that technology is making in the wearables sector is incredible (Which also explains it’s growth). EKG, fall detection, wheelchair capabilities on the Apple Watch and possibly detecting dementia, this is what’s making the future for wearables a ‘must have’ versus what once started primarily as a notification device.

bla bla bla - which sane person needs that crap you are mentioning. its a reason to NOT buy any wearable especially apple watch.
a sane being wants a long lasting battery finest notification handling and if you are in sports real feature rich sports tracking.
everything mentioned by me can the apple watch NOT

instead its a useless health gimmick - fall detection - come on seriously? ecg, and dementia are you people that sick - than meet a doctor and progress a healthy lifestyle!!!
[doublepost=1565259413][/doublepost]

Oh crap.

dont worry its not a sign of dementia. but be carefully when you start searching your iphone in a flat someone else lives now!

 

[timber]

The best way is to check if you bought the solid gold version.

Yes? Dementia surely coming.

 

[iPadified]

The cynic in me says this sponsored “research” is nothing more than marketing/PR puff.

If Apple wants serious credibility with the AW in health, they should throw everything at blood glucose monitoring.

I do not think so. The paper looks sound enough and conclusions are modest and within reason. Good scientific papers (much better than this) is of key "marketing" value when addressing investors but not consumers.

None invasive blood glucose monitoring is the holy grail of biosensors. There has been efforts for decades in this field by large players, so I am a bit pessimistic. Also, a wrong glucose reading can be lethal as wrong dose of insulin is given based on the reading. Therefore glucose monitoring is a completely different game than finding dementia early.

 

[Prof.]

This would be amazing. Dementia is a horrible horrible disease that takes every last bit of dignity from you. The earlier the detection, the earlier the planning can begin or even cure it.

As a healthcare professional it always amazes me how far families go to preserve their loved ones, and delay death: feeding tube, urinary catheter, assisted breathing, colostomy bag or anal tube, etc. They are prisoners inside their own body. These poor people suffer every waking moment. You can see the pain and suffering in their eyes, and it's my job to follow the family's wishes and keep them in this world as long as possible because the family is too selfish and full of guilt to let go.

Obviously this isn't the case with every patient, but a good chunk of them to make me and my family agree to never let one of us suffer when we reach the end of life.

 

[skorpeon]

They've lost their mind.
(I hope I didn't type that too slowly).
Any old person wearing an A-Watch now will now be under suspicion that they're concerned they're developing dementia.
"Oh he has that dementia surveillance watch on his wrist".

you are a member since 2002 but you still make comments based on emotions.... what you mean watch on his wrist ? any of your naked photos are seen by other people ? any of your contacts can be seen if someone on the street would say ''oh watch his contacts'' ?? no. Be more mature please .. Apple may not be perfect but when it comes to privacy is at least the best than any other tech companies. Thank you
[doublepost=1565262659][/doublepost]

Amen.

As a healthcare professional it always amazes me how far families go to preserve their loved ones, and delay death: feeding tube, urinary catheter, assisted breathing, colostomy bag or anal tube, etc. They are prisoners inside their own body. These poor people suffer every waking moment. You can see the pain and suffering in their eyes, and it's my job to follow the family's wishes and keep them in this world as long as possible because the family is too selfish and full of guilt to let go.

Obviously this isn't the case with every patient, but a good chunk of them to make me and my family agree to never let one of us suffer when we reach the end of life.

I wish I never become your patient

 

[Plutonius]

They are normally in denial.

I don't believe it's denial among family and friends.

It's more of a feeling of helplessness to stop it from occurring .

 

[MyMacintosh]

........How does an iPhone detect ApoE and Amyloid beta?

 

[robbietop]

Man: "Hey, Siri? What time is it?"
Siri: "It's 10:58 AM!"
Man: "I don't remember asking you!"
Siri: "We have a winner!"

 

[Goldfinger]

Because...? If it said you were going to develop Alzheimer's, we've just ruined your life for no good reason. It's not like we have preventative medicines. The only thing you might do is what you're supposed to do anyway which is to be as healthy as possible in other respects so you are more resilient when the dementia gets its teeth into you.

But what will happen instead is that, armed with this cognitive death sentence, far more people will greet the early dementia with fatalism and surrender. This is why we shouldn't (and generally don't) do DNA tests on family members of Alzheimer's patients to see if they're at high risk.

This.

This kind of technology is extremely dangerous for people's (and their family's) psychological health until there is cure for dementia.

 

[wigby]

I wonder how accurate this is. The watch is a horrible calculator of steps. I work in retail and it records almost every single arm movement as a step. Heck, I can get 25 steps driving my car at times.

If you specifically care about steps and nothing else, then it might not be the best but no one really cares about steps. Steps are a simple metric like calories and have little meaning in the real world. So long as a baseline metric is consistent between devices and studies like these, accuracy isn't that important.

 

[BootsWalking]

You have never seen the cruel long decline and death of a family member

I have actually - alzheimer's runs in my family. And they were always forgetting where they left things. I think you mistook an actual suggestion for mocking.

 

[BruceEBonus]

Laugh as you may. But the bloke in the Apple Store just sold me this new iPhone that detects Cardiac Arrhythmias, Ketone Acidosis, Hypoxaemia , Early-Onset Frontal Lobe Dementia AND (get this, readers) Gullibility. Only £200 more than the usual version. Bargain!. Let’s hope it works, eh!.

 

[aliensporebomb]

I wonder how accurate this is. The watch is a horrible calculator of steps. I work in retail and it records almost every single arm movement as a step. Heck, I can get 25 steps driving my car at times.

The talented pianist at our church has to remove his apple watch before playing a church service or rehearsal as it interprets piano key presses as steps at times.

It doesn't track typing as steps I find.

I find for me it works pretty well as a step tracker but when I play guitar I take my watch off, I don't like my left wrist to be restricted when playing.
[doublepost=1565273542][/doublepost]

Will they be able to remember to charge a watch that doesn't last long?

My AW0 still functions the way I used it when it was new 4 years ago: wake up, take it off the charger and use all day. When it's time to hit the hay, put it on the charger overnight.

 

[barkingsheltie]

Perhaps one parameter would be purchasing an expensive wearable?

 

[Prof.]

you are a member since 2002 but you still make comments based on emotions.... what you mean watch on his wrist ? any of your naked photos are seen by other people ? any of your contacts can be seen if someone on the street would say ''oh watch his contacts'' ?? no. Be more mature please .. Apple may not be perfect but when it comes to privacy is at least the best than any other tech companies. Thank you
[doublepost=1565262659][/doublepost]

I wish I never become your patient

First, I hope you never become my patient either. I’d never wish illness on anyone.

Second, plz hold off on silly uneducated comments such as the one you just made. You have no idea the immense suffering I see, or the toll it takes on myself or my colleagues. If you worked in healthcare and saw what we see every day, you’d feel exactly the same way.

 

[PickUrPoison]

........How does an iPhone detect ApoE and Amyloid beta?

Why would it need to?

If you think any device on your wrist or in your pocket is going to be able to perform non-invasive qualitative and quantitative analyses of specific proteins located in the brain (or anywhere else for that matter)—or expect it to sequence genes—you are going to be rather disappointed in what’s likely to be available in your lifetime. Probably best to go into your suspended-animation chamber and set it for somewhere in the 2100-2200 timeframe