Hector Romero Ramirez MSc Dissertation 2016/17

Joints: an Apple ResearchKit App for Osteoarthritis

Supervised by M.Villa-Uriol

Abstract

Osteoarthritis is a disease that affects the diarthrodial joints. Although it is the most prevalent degenerative joint pathology, its definition and causes are still not completely clear and no disease-modifying drugs are available. Therefore, a new approach to medical research on this pathology is increasingly important. ResearchKit is an open source iOS framework for medical research developed by Apple Inc. that allows the collection of medical data on apps through surveys and active tasks, and the creation of consent flows. There is no ResearchKit app on osteoarthritis to date. For that reason, an iOS app named “Joints” using such a framework was developed in this project, along with a companion watchOS app, with the objective of supporting patients and physicians dealing with osteoarthritis. It is focused on the assessment of physical activity, quality of life, pain and inflammation, and is available on the App Store: https://appsto.re/gb/_lxFkb.i. Finally, since the app developed in this project deals with personal health data and was tested on human participants, ethical review was sought.