Apple Women’s Health Study
The Apple Women’s Health Study is the first long-term research study of this scale and scope that aims to advance the understanding of menstrual cycles and their relationship to various health conditions.
News
PBS News Hour: New study details potential long-term health risks as American girls reach puberty earlier
May 2024: A new study adds to the evidence that girls in America are reaching puberty earlier with potentially troubling implications for their long-term health.
Washington Post: Girls’ periods are starting sooner, more irregular than past generations
May 2024: A new study of 71,341 women supports the growing concern that the age at which girls start menstruating is getting younger, and the trends are even more pronounced for some racial and ethnic groups.
Healio: Apple Data: Irregular menstrual cycles may predict cardiometabolic risk.
May 2024: In an analysis of more than 60,000 participants who reported menstrual cycle and other hormone-related data via the Apple research app, researchers also found that longer time to menstrual cycle regularity since menarche was associated with a higher prevalence of several cardiometabolic conditions.
New York Times: Girls of Color Are Getting Their Periods Earlier. No One Quite Knows Why.
May 2024: A new study found that girls are starting their menstrual cycles earlier now than in previous decades.
Medscape: How Wearables are Expanding the Limits of Clinical Research
September 2023: Researchers are using smartwatches and fitness trackers to do large-scale studies that would have been impossible in the past. Dr. Shruthi Mahalingaiah and Dr. Huichu Li highlight the benefits of tech wearables in menstrual cycle research.
POPSUGAR: Why It’s So Essential to Talk About Periods
March 2023: Menstruation is a natural and normal part of life for half the population, but it remains surrounded by stigma in both science and society. Dr. Sumbul Desai and Dr. Michelle A. Williams wrote an op-ed arguing that it’s time to drop the euphemisms and start the conversation.
Newsroom: Preliminary findings from the Apple Women’s Health Study help advance the conversation and science around menstrual cycles
March 2023: Apple Women’s Health Study researchers used survey data from over 50,000 participants to advance the scientific understanding of the relationship between persistently abnormal periods, PCOS, and endometrial hyperplasia and cancer.
Celebrating Participants on International Women’s Day
March 2023: The Apple Women’s Health Study is celebrating International Women’s Day by thanking its participants for all their efforts and contributions in its first three years.
Apple Women’s Health Study Celebrates First Anniversary
November 2020: This month marks the first anniversary of the launch of the revolutionary Apple Women’s Health Study. The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health along with Apple and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) are working to gain a deeper understanding of how demographic and lifestyle factors could have an impact on menstrual cycles and gynecologic conditions including infertility, menopause, and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
Participants contribute meaningful data during first two years of study
November 2021: Thanks to survey, menstrual cycle tracking, and sensor data shared by Apple Women’s Health Study participants throughout the study’s first two years, the study team has been able to gain a deeper understanding of women’s health across the lifespan.
Gaining insight into women’s health
March 2020: Could an app help scientists better understand menstruation, fertility, and menopause? On an episode of Harvard Chan This Week in Health, Shruthi Mahalingaiah and JP Onnela talk about the groundbreaking Apple Women’s Health Study.
Apple Women’s Health Study Releases preliminary data to help destigmatize menstrual symptoms
March 2021: The Apple Women’s Health Study team at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health has released preliminary scientific data on women and their menstrual symptoms, contributed by a cohort of 10,000 participants of varying ages and races across the U.S. participating in the study through Apple’s Research app. The data could advance the science around women’s health and help destigmatize menstruation, according to the researchers.
Poster presentation about study’s design and methods at 68th Annual Meeting of the SRI
July 2021: Shruthi Mahalingaiah, one of the study’s principal investigators, presented a poster about the design and methods of the Apple Women’s Health Study at the 68th Annual Meeting of the Society for Reproductive Investigation (SRI) in July 2021. The annual meeting brings together researchers to discuss improving reproductive health outcomes.
A Better Flow Chart for Medical Discovery
Spring 2020: The Apple Women’s Health Study—a unique partnership among Apple Inc., the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH)—has set out to demystify and illuminate menstruation and accord it the scientific scrutiny and social acceptance it deserves.