Today, Apple gave important information about the “Women’s Health Study”. Menstrual health is being taken further with the iPhone and Apple Watch, according to the firm.
“As International Women’s Day approaches, new preliminary findings from the Apple Women’s Health Study highlight the importance of paying attention to menstrual cycles and the link between cycles and overall health.” The company said, in its official statement: conveyed: “While many doctors consider menstruation a vital sign, research in this area of health is rather scant. The Apple Women’s Health Study, conducted in conjunction with the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), is a first-of-its-kind research study. This study aims to learn more about menstrual cycles and their relationship to various health conditions, such as polycystic ovary syndrome (POS), infertility, and the transition to menopause. The study is of great importance in terms of both its scope and scale, as it invites anyone who has ever menstruated in the USA to participate in this research using only their iPhone.
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New Preliminary Findings: Researchers at Harvard Chan School drew on survey data from the Apple Women’s Health Study to gain more scientific insight into the relationship between persistently abnormal menstrual cycles, POS, endometrial hyperplasia, and cancer. Examining the preliminary analysis group of more than 50,000 study participants, the study team came to the following data:
– 12 percent of the participants POS reported that he had been diagnosed. Risk of endometrial hyperplasia (a lesion that can lead to uterine cancer) in participants diagnosed with POS of four floors higher, the risk of uterine cancer from 2.5 floors was found to be much higher.
-5.7 percent of the participants after their first menstruation five years or longer to reach a regular menstrual cycle stated that it continues. The risk of endometrial hyperplasia in this group was lowered compared to participants who reported that their cycles took less than a year to become regular. from two floors higher, the risk of uterine cancer from 3.5 floors was found to be much higher.
These updates are the first step in helping people understand their risk factors for these diseases and encouraging them to consult a healthcare professional about cycle irregularity at an earlier stage. Associate Professor of Environmental Reproductive and Women’s Health at Harvard Chan School and one of the principal researchers of the Apple Women’s Health Study. Shruthi Mahalingaiah (MS) explains:
“We need to create more awareness about menstrual cycle physiology and the effects of irregular menstrual cycles and POS on uterine health. This analysis highlights the importance of menstruating people seeing a healthcare professional when they experience months-long changes in their menstrual cycles. We hope that, over time, our research will enable us to arrive at new strategies that will reduce the risk of disease and improve health throughout life.” The study team will perform more extensive analyzes on this preliminary data before sharing it in scientific publications.
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The Apple Women’s Health Study team previously shared other interim research updates highlighting how large-scale and long-term research on menstruation can help advance scientific knowledge on this topic.
-Research published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology; POS, such as irregular or prolonged menstrual cycle, which may be a sign of underlying conditions such as fibroids, malignancies, or infections to loop deviations is focusing. Within the scope of the study, it was determined that 16.4 percent of the study population had cycle deviations. The incidence of infrequent menstrual cycles was found to be 33 percent higher in black participants than in white and non-Hispanic participants, while irregular menstrual cycles were more common in Asian participants.
-Your menstrual symptoms Revealing how common it actually is, the researchers determined that the most common symptoms were abdominal cramping, bloating and fatigue. All of these symptoms were observed in more than 60 percent of the participants who recorded the symptoms they experienced. More than half of the participants who recorded their symptoms reported experiencing acne and headaches. Less common symptoms, such as diarrhea and sleep changes, were also observed in 37 percent of the participants who recorded their symptoms.
Analyzing more than 125,000 menstrual cycles, researchers found that participants COVID-19 vaccine He found that menstrual cycles during their time were slightly longer, but once they were vaccinated, the cycles usually reverted to the times before the vaccine.
The Apple Women’s Health Study invites anyone in the US who has experienced menstruation at any point in their life to contribute to this scientific research through the Apple Research app. The study allows participants to share cycle tracking and other health data using their iPhone and, if available, their Apple Watch. Participants can also provide versatile information about their personal and family backgrounds and lifestyles through occasional surveys. The research app helps the study reach people of different races across the US at different stages of life. Participants who are transparently informed about how the data will be used for the purposes of this study can control the types of data they can share with the study.
Cycle Tracking on iPhone and Apple Watch: Cycle Tracking, available in the Health app on iPhone or the Cycle Tracker app on Apple Watch, allows users to track their menstrual cycles along with details such as symptoms or ovulation test results. Cycle Tracking provides menstruation and fertility forecasts using heart rate data from Apple Watch, as well as information recorded on users’ previous menstrual cycles and cycle length. Users can activate notifications for the next menstruation or fertile period if they wish.
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Cycle Tracking in iOS 16 and watchOS 9 can notify users if their cycle history recorded in the previous six months shows irregular, infrequent, or prolonged menstrual cycles or persistent spotting patterns. It is very important to know that such patterns appear, which may be a harbinger of underlying health conditions. Users can also learn about the Cycle Deviation detected and export the cycle history of the last 12 months in PDF format to share with healthcare professionals.
New temperature sensing features in Apple Watch Series 8 and Apple Watch Ultra allow users to get retrospective ovulation forecasts. Wrist temperature data collected by the new sensors overnight can be used to predict the likely day of ovulation after ovulation occurs and to improve menstruation predictions. Knowing when ovulation occurs can be helpful for family planning. Users can view these forecasts in the Health app.
Privacy is fundamental to the design and development of all Apple features. When a user’s phone is locked with a passcode, Touch ID, or Face ID, all health and fitness data in the Health app is encrypted, except what they add to their Medical ID card. All Health data backed up in iCloud goes through the same encryption process, both in transit and stored on Apple servers. When iOS and watchOS are used with default two-factor authentication and password, Health app data synced to iCloud is end-to-end encrypted. Thus, Apple does not have the key to decrypt this data and therefore cannot read the data.