Apple looks to digital biomarkers for features detecting depression, cognitive decline

The Wall Street Journal reports that the work on the feature could be born out of collaborations with UCLA and Biogen.

Apple is looking to use digital biomarkers to help detect depression and early-stage cognitive decline, according to a new report out of The Wall Street Journal. 

The end goal, according to the Journal, is to create a new Apple feature that would tell users if there was a potential mental illness. Data collected regarding a users’ mobility, physical activity, sleep pattern could be included in the algorithm.

The report notes that the new effort could be tied to collaborations that the Silicon Valley titan already has established with UCLA researchers and pharma company Biogen. 

At the beginning of August UCLA announced a three-year study collaboration with Apple centered on finding the connection between depression and biomarkers collected by digital tools. In the study, researchers will look at data from the iPhone, Apple Watch and the Beddit sleep monitoring device. 

“This collaboration, which harnesses UCLA’s deep research expertise and Apple’s innovative technology, has the potential to transform behavioral health research and clinical care,” Dr. Nelson Freimer, a professor of psychiatry and principal investigator