Thanks to Apple’s new ResearchKit software, breakthroughs have already been made in the study of Parkinsons disease and Asthma. Now, a team of researcher are planning to use the iPhone and ResearchKit to study a subject we still don’t know as much about as we’d like to: LGBT health.
Comprehensive medical research into the health needs of the LGBT population can actually be pretty tough to find, even though as Buzzfeed reports, there’s a clear need to know more about the role sexual orientation and gender identity play in health.
Armed with the iPhone and ResearchKit, a team of researchers from University of California, San Francisco are planning to conduct what may become the largest national study of LGBT health ever. They’ve created an iPhone app called The Pride Study that will use ResearchKit to access special health needs of the LGBT population.
By surveying people about health factor risks like smoking, obesity, depression, caners, and AIDs, UCSF researcher hope to tap into the iPhone’s enormous user base to gain new insights into health issues faces transgender and bisexual individuals.
With a Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage expected any day now, the app is slated to be released by the end of June, which also happens to be LGBT Pride Month.
