Recently the Apple Women’s Health Study team at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health released a preliminary study update. Using the Research App, they are studying the experience of the menstrual cycle. They do this by using a cohort of 10,000 participants across various ages and races.

The awesome thing is, they are collecting data from real women using cycle tracking and other health data to better understand the menstrual cycle. This is how big data should be used, not for targeted advertisements.

According to the initial study: “The most frequently tracked symptoms were abdominal cramps, bloating, and tiredness, all of which were experienced by more than 60 percent of participants who logged symptoms. More than half of the participants who logged symptoms reported acne and headaches. Some less widely recognised symptoms, like diarrhoea and sleep changes, were tracked by 37 percent of participants logging symptoms”.

And this is true across the board.

The thing is, the study was done only in the US. And although the study includes women across a wide range of demographics, including age, race, and geographic location, I don’t see anything that said the study includes women of different lifestyles and income levels.

Having an iPhone or Apple Watch with the Research app is a part of the requirement to enrol in the study. I am not a statistics expert, but it does look like there are some biases to the study when it is done this way. Wouldn’t people who can afford these devices be relatively well off?

That said, the study is conducted in partnership with Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the NIH’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). So I think it is safe to assume that they know what they are doing.

Check out the full article here.