Apple, Johnson & Johnson Team Up For Stroke Risk-Reducing Study And App

Smartphone giant Apple and pharmaceutical leader Johnson & Johnson are about to work together in an effort to curb down the risks for stroke. Both companies are now working on not only studying on reducing risk of heart disease but also work on an app that helps detect it more accurately. The new app will be available on the Apple Watch.

The new project of Apple and Johnson & Johnson will be called The Heartline Study. The research will be about atrial fibrillation which is a heart condition that is difficult to detect. This study will also include an Apple app that will help track these heart issues through the Apple Watch.

So far, the study will be conducted on seniors who have their original medicare and have an iPhone not older than the 6s. Eligible seniors can apply for this study, and it will last for around three years. The data gathered from this study will go into improving Apple’s health app on the Apple Watch.

Both Apple and Johnson & Johnson are working together to discover if there’s any way to improve the Apple Health’s tracking technology in detecting early signs of atrial fibrillation. These signs are the precursors to stroke and is difficult to diagnose due to lack of physical symptoms. As of now, the improvements would also go on the ECG feature which expected on the Apple Watch.

For now, people who’ve joined the study could be the only ones that can use the beta tests for the new health app from the two companies. Previously, Apple has also worked with Stanford University in developing the technology needed to detect atrial fibrillation.