The Apple Watch can detect diabetes with 85% accuracy

"According to Cardiogram founder Brandon Ballinger’s latest clinical study, the Apple Watch can detect diabetes in those previously diagnosed with the disease with an 85 percent accuracy.
The study is part of the larger DeepHeart study with Cardiogram and UCSF. This particular study used data from 14,000 Apple Watch users and was able to detect that 462 of them had diabetes by using the Watch’s heart rate sensor, the same type of sensor other fitness bands using Android Wear also integrate into their systems.
In 2015, the Framingham Heart Study showed that resting heart rate and heart rate variability significantly predicted incident diabetes and hypertension. This led to the impetus to use the Watch’s heart rate sensor to see if it could accurately detect a diabetic patient."

Source:  Techcrunch, 7th February 2018

The fertility tracking app Natural Cycles is as effective at preventing pregnancy as the contraceptive pill

"Natural Cycles, the only app to be approved as a contraceptive, has proved 99 per cent effective in the largest study investigating it to date.
The startup had previously conducted a study of 4,000 women, which showed similar accuracy rates. It has now proven the efficacy of the app again after testing 22,785 women through a total of 224,563 menstrual cycles across a year, to calculate the app’s Pearl Index – the rate used to measure a contraceptive’s effectiveness. It found that if used perfectly – using protection such as condoms on red days – effectiveness is 99 per cent. Typical use, where people don’t use protection on the red days, leads to 93 per cent effectiveness, well above other natural family planning methods that rate at around 75 per cent and even the pill, which rates at 91 per cent."

Source:  Wired, 13th September 2017

There were more fifth birthdays in 2014 than ever before

"More Fifth Birthdays Than Ever Before
To me, one of the best ways to measure progress is to look at how many children are dying of preventable causes. And today, more kids are living to see their fifth birthday than ever before. This year, for at least the 42nd year in a row, the child mortality rate has fallen. And it’s not just moving in the right direction—it’s falling faster than anyone expected. The Economist ran a great article about this in September, where it estimated that just since 2001, the world has saved 13.6 million children’s lives. It’s hard to think of a better sign the world is improving."

Source:  Bill Gates' Good News You May Have Missed, 15th December 2014

The size of the mHealth mobile app market rose seven-fold in 2011

"Since our first mHealth report was published last year, the growth in this market has greatly accelerated. The main drivers for this growth have been the increase in the smartphone user base on the demand side, and the doubling of the number of mHealth applications on the supply side.
Mobile healthcare market has grown a lot in the last year …
A majority of the major healthcare companies have discovered mHealth applications as an innovative way to promote and deliver healthcare services and products. A testament to this is that a number of these large players published mHealth apps in 2011 that go far beyond a simple allergy tracker or pill reminder, e.g. Sanofi Aventis’ sensor-based iBGStar Diabetis monitoring app.
As a consequence, the smartphone application based mHealth market increased by a factor of 7 to reach $US 718 million in 2011."

Source:  Press release from Research2Guidance, 11th January 2012