Smartwatch- and smartphone-based remote assessment of brain health and detection of mild cognitive impairment
Year: 2025
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Smart devices are utilized by billions worldwide. The ubiquity of consumer-grade smart devices provides opportunities to robustly capture real-world cognition. Intuition (NCT05058950) was a virtual, observational study that enrolled 23,004 U.S. adults in 18-months collecting longitudinal multimodal data via iPhone and Apple Watch using a custom research application that captured routine device use, self-reported health information, and cognitive assessments. The study objectives were to classify mild cognitive impairment, characterize cognitive trajectories, and develop tools to detect and track cognitive health at scale. The study addresses sources of bias in current cognitive health research, including limited representativeness (e.g., racial/ethnic, geographic) and accuracy of cognitive measurement tools. We provide study rationale and design, then describe baseline demographics, clinical, and neuropsychological characteristics stratified by vulnerability to cognitive decline. Initial results support the feasibility to detect mild cognitive impairment and describe at-risk cognitive health trajectories in an ecologically valid and demographically diverse aging population.
Source: Nature Medicine
Authors: Paul Monroe Butler, Jenny Yang, Roland Brown, Matt Hobbs, Andrew Becker, Joaquin Penalver-Andres, Philippe Syz, Sofia Muller, Gautier Cosne, Adrien Juraver, Han Hee Song, Paramita Saha-Chaudhuri, Daniel Roggen, Alf Scotland, Natalia Silveira, Gizem Demircioglu, Audrey Gabelle, Richard Hughes, Michael G. Erkkinen, Jessica B. Langbaum, Jennifer H. Lingler, Pamela Price, Yakeel T. Quiroz, Sharon J. Sha, Marty Sliwinski, Anton P. Porsteinsson, Rhoda Au, Matt T. Bianchi, Hanson Lenyoun, Hung Pham, Mithun Patel, Shibeshih Belachew
Institutions: Brigham and Women's Hospital, Biogen (United States), Harvard University, Apple (United States), Banner Alzheimer’s Institute, University of Pittsburgh, Balm In Gilead, Massachusetts General Hospital, Stanford Medicine, Stanford University, Pennsylvania State University, University of Rochester Medicine, University of Rochester, Boston University
Language: English
Subfield: Psychiatry and Mental health
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $12,690
Funder: National Institute on Aging
OpenAlex ID: W4408156528