WebMD is launching an updated iOS app that will run under Apple’s ResearchKit.
The app itself is in its second iteration and aims to collect data on pregnant women — a demographic that WebMD explains science has very little data on.
By using Apple’s ResearchKit, a nonintrusive and oftentimes easily accessible platform (particularly to those with an iOS device), WebMD, along with Scripps Translational Science Institute (STSI), hopes to compile data that will allow them to peek into all facets of a woman’s pregnancy.
According to the app’s iTunes description, women are able to track their pregnancy week by week while also gaining access to a wide range of pregnancy-related resources. The app is a free download via the app store and the study itself is opt-in option for anyone using the app.
“The results of our Healthy Pregnancy Study —on the foundation of an exceptionally popular smartphone app —will ultimately provide expectant mothers, researchers, and health care professionals with new medical insights to avoid complications during pregnancy,” explains Dr. Eric Topol, director of STSI and editor-in-chief of Medscape, in a press release.
The medical data that women would be opting in to give would include things like specific medication use, pre-existing conditions, monitoring of weight change and any pregnancy-specific diagnosis.
The goal will be that the data collected would both help researchers, as well as other soon-to-be moms. Once enough data is collected, the app will allow women to track their pregnancy against that of other women with similar traits.
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