All articles tagged with #health data
OpenAI has agreed to acquire Torch, a one-year-old AI healthcare app, for about $100 million in equity (roughly $60 million upfront with the rest in stock to retain employees), a move that extends OpenAI’s reach into health-data analysis from providers like Kaiser Permanente to apps like Apple Health and firms such as Prenuvo.
Fitbit's app is being redesigned with a new AI-powered Personal Health Coach, built with Google's Gemini, offering personalized health and fitness guidance, better data visualization, and customization features, available in an open beta for Fitbit Premium subscribers, with a focus on scientific research and partnerships to ensure reliable health advice.
The UK Biobank completed the world's largest whole-body imaging project, scanning 100,000 volunteers over 15 years, creating an extensive dataset that is revolutionizing disease research, diagnostics, and AI development for early detection and understanding of health and aging.
RFK Jr. suggests all Americans use health-tracking wearables to monitor their health, but experts raise concerns about data security, privacy, and government access, emphasizing the risks of data breaches and misuse.
Washington and 19 other states sued the federal government over the decision to share Medicaid enrollees' personal health data with ICE, raising concerns about privacy and deportation efforts.
The article criticizes the current state of AI-generated fitness summaries from wearables, highlighting their superficiality, lack of context, and limited usefulness, especially in complex scenarios like injuries. Despite widespread adoption and positive user feedback, the summaries often fail to provide meaningful insights or actionable advice, revealing the limitations of AI in understanding nuanced health data. The author suggests that these features are more about marketing than delivering real value, and hopes for more personalized, insightful AI in the future.
The article reflects on the collapse of 23andMe, emphasizing lessons for the future of consumer genomics, including the importance of clinician partnerships, the limitations of HIPAA compliance, and the need for better governance and transparency of health data. It highlights the company's strategic missteps and the broader implications for health data ownership, trust, and regulation in the evolving digital health landscape.
The increasing availability of fitness trackers and wearables has provided users with an overwhelming amount of health data, but experts caution that more data does not necessarily lead to better health outcomes. While these devices offer a range of measurements from heart rate to sleep time, not all data is considered helpful, and the real impact depends on the individual wearer. Additionally, many of these devices are not regulated by the FDA, and some claims about their capabilities have been cautioned against.
Researchers in Denmark have developed an AI "death calculator" called life2vec, which analyzes personal and medical data to predict a person's mortality timeline with 79% accuracy. Using a Danish public health registry dataset, the algorithm outperformed other tools at predicting early mortality, suggesting it could be a valuable tool for identifying key factors that affect life outcomes and enabling earlier interventions.
A study published in The Lancet suggests that over 7,000 Covid-related hospital admissions and deaths in the UK during the summer of 2022 could have been prevented if the population had received the recommended number of vaccine doses. The research, which analyzed anonymized electronic health data for the entire UK population over the age of five, found that 44% of the population was under-vaccinated, with younger people being among the most likely to skip doses. The study highlights the importance of vaccine uptake in preventing severe Covid illness and suggests that similar health data analysis could be used to understand and address other diseases.
Despite the booming fitness tracking industry and the widespread use of health data, the accuracy and relevance of the data are questionable, leading to ineffective outcomes in improving health. The author suggests that a more mindful approach to health data is necessary, emphasizing the need for accurate, relevant, and actionable data. While acknowledging the potential benefits of certain health technologies, the author advocates for a "data diet," where individuals use data as a means to an end rather than a source of validation, and prioritize listening to their bodies and focusing on holistic well-being.
Whoop has introduced an AI Coach powered by OpenAI's GPT-4 model, offering personalized recommendations based on users' biometric data and fitness goals. The AI Coach provides individualized responses to health and fitness questions within seconds, utilizing historical metrics to generate exercise recommendations. Users can ask a wide range of questions, from activity suggestions to training program building. The AI Coach is included in the Whoop subscription and has the potential to improve over time.
Fitbit and Google are facing scrutiny over the handling of users' health data, with concerns raised about how the data is being used, particularly in relation to Google's targeted advertising operations. The combination of Fitbit's health data with Google's other data has raised concerns about discrimination and exploitation in healthcare and other sensitive areas. The lack of transparency from Google and Fitbit has led to questions about where the data is going and who has access to it. Users are urged to review privacy policies and consider the potential implications of sharing their health data with smartwatch and fitness tracker manufacturers.
The Oura Ring has introduced a new social feature called Oura Circles that allows users to share their sleep, readiness, and activity scores with up to 20 other Oura members. Users can customize what they share and react to data shared by others with emojis. The feature is designed to provide social connection and combat post-pandemic loneliness issues. However, it is also about creating mini clubs for competitive sharing and making the Oura ring more attractive to people outside those clubs.
Oura, the company behind the smart ring that tracks biometric data, has launched a new community-sharing feature called Circles, which allows users to share readiness, sleep, and activity scores with private groups. The feature is aimed at creating a small, intimate group of empathy and support, rather than competition. Oura has also rolled out a new sleep staging algorithm that provides a variety of scores and areas for improvement. The company has looked to get its rings onto more hands through added features and partnerships, including a deal with Best Buy to be its first U.S.-based large-scale retail partnership.