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Apple and Johnson & Johnson (J&J) pulled the curtain back on a new research project, dubbed Heartline, aimed at detecting and curtailing the risk of stroke among seniors, according to CNBC.
The duo will leverage the Apple Watch 4's FDA-cleared heart rate monitoring capabilities to detect atrial fibrillation (AFib) - an irregular heart beat that afflicts up to 6 million US patients (predominantly the elderly) and is a leading cause of stroke.
This marks Apple's most recent tie-up for heart research, proving it's been successful in courting established players as research partners: Apple also completed an AFib study with Stanford Medicine in March 2019. And the tech giant announced heart health-focused partnerships with both Brigham and Women's Hospital and the American Heart Association (AHA) when it released the latest iteration of the Watch in September 2019.
Apple's research partnership with J&J is the latest sign that seniors remain at the epicenter of its healthcare play. Participants of Heartline must be members of traditional Medicare plans, and they can access the study via the Heartline Study App.
Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two groups: One requires them to own a recent model of the iPhone, and the other leverages the Watch - which participants can either buy for $49 (a sliver of the original $300 price tag) or borrow from researchers free of charge. The prospect of purchasing a Watch at a lower price point - or using one for free for the study's three-year duration - should appeal to the older demographic, considering the Watch boasts new senior-focused features, like fall detection.
And older consumers' appetite for wearables is growing, which means they likely won't shy away from a chance to participate: An estimated 10 million US consumers ages 55 and up will use wearables in 2022 - up from the estimated 8 million who did so in 2019, according to eMarketer's Wearables 2019 report.
While Apple is an appealing research partner due to is ability to rope in eligible participants quickly - the Watch's only clinical-grade feature is the heart monitor, which could limit the type of research initiatives it takes part in.
Apple wowed the clinical research community when it took less than a year to hook in 400,000 Apple Heart Study participants - making it the largest AFib study ever conducted. This sent a positive signal to other organizations looking for ways to overcome the research community's pervasive inability to collect enough participants to successfully run a study or trial. And Apple is doubling down on this strength: It debuted a dedicated Research App that allows Apple Watch users to opt into studies they're eligible for.
But the Watch has to compete with research-specific remote monitoring tools - and it's unclear how research initiatives beyond heart health will pan out. Earning FDA clearance for its electrocardiogram (EKG) in September 2018 was a win for Apple's clinical research plans. But the tech giant still has to vie for research tie-ups with firms like AliveCor, which also boasts an FDA-cleared EKG device without the bells and whistles of the Apple Watch - and researchers may not want to pay up for the Watch or complicate participation for users by requiring them to navigate a higher-tech solution.
Further, for now, Apple's heart rate monitor is the Watch's only FDA-cleared feature, which could limit the types of partnerships it forges. However, it's currently involved in a menstrual health-tracking study and a hearing initiative, so it's begun to wade outside of the heart health realm.
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