How Google Is Marrying Smartphone Features With Its Platforms To Prioritise Health
Even long before Covid-19 showed up, most people turned to Google in hopes of finding answers to their health woes. From slight pain in the back to life-threatening injuries, people recovering in their homes always knew Google would have a tip or two.
At Google Health's yearly "The Check Up" event, the company revealed a series of measures it is taking to help billions of people be healthier.
Teams from Google Search, YouTube, Fitbit, Care Studio, Health AI, Cloud and Advanced Technologies, and Project have worked together to curate health services that were highlighted at Google's second annual "The Check Up" event.
On YouTube
Google says that it wants to leverage the power of YouTube's reach to help people make "informed decisions about" their health. If one thing Covid-19 has made clear is that most health communication is now dependent on video.
YouTube wants to become a platform that stirs "effective, engaging, and trusted" conversations about public health.
For starters, Google has partnered with health organisations like Mass General Brigham and the American Public Health Association to create content on YouTube. Through engaging and evidence-based videos like Stanford's Viral Facts Series, YouTube says it has already taken a giant leap in terms of making medical information accessible.
Now, the service has added two new features. The first one is a health source information panel that will appear on videos to help users verify information in clips. The second feature is being called "health content shelves" where by videos from trusted health sources are highlighted when users search for keywords on YouTube or on Google.
In addition, Google Search claims to have been helping people in "Brazil, India, and Japan discover local, authoritative health content on YouTube." Health Source Information Panels and Health Content Shelves are being rolled out in Japan, Brazil, and India at the moment.
Through Google Search
In the United States, Google's Search team has recently released features that help people find the best care. For starters, it helps people find healthcare providers who would accept their insurance.
Search is also introducing a feature that displays the appointment availability for healthcare providers, allowing one to easy book appointments online. In the US, Google Search is working with partners like MinuteClinic at CVS to expand this feature. This feature is currently in its early stages, and Google claims that it can help people find doctors in new cities, and even find same-day care based on area.
Detecting diabetes through smartphone cameras
Google's earliest health AI projects - ARDA wants to screen users for diabetic retinopathy that causes blindness among patients if left untreated.
The company claims to be screening 350 patients daily - with 100,000 screened to date. Recently, Google partnered with Thailand's national screening programme to assess whether ARDA is accurate and capable of being deployed on a large scale.
Images of eyes taken through smartphone cameras can also reveal cardiovascular risk factors including high blood sugar and cholesterol levels. Of course, machine learning is key here.
Now, Google is working with EyePACS and Chang Gung Memorial Hospital (CGMH) to check whether smartphone cameras can detect diabetes and non-diabetes diseases from external eye photos.
Recording heart sounds with smartphone mics
Google is also recording and translating heart sounds with smartphones. Built-in microphones in smartphones may be used on over 100 models of Android devices and on iOS to "give people insights into daily health and wellness."
Built-in microphones in smartphones could record a participant's heart sounds when placed over the chest - akin to how auscultation using stethoscopes works.?This could help doctors detect heart valve disorders like aortic stenosis early. Google's latest research is attempting to understand how smartphones may be used to detect heartbeats and murmurs.
Through Fitbit
We keep reading stories about how assistive devices like Fitbit have saved lives of people of warning them about issues with their vitals, especially when it comes to the heart.?Fitbit now wants to create an even greater impact on people with chronic conditions like atrial fibrillation (AFib).
In 2020, Fitbit launched the Fitbit Heart Study, wherein they tested PPG (Photoplethysmography) AFib algorithm on half a million people who use Fitbit. AFib essentially looks at heart rate data to warn people about signs of irregular heart rhythm.
Google, then, showed the data to American Heart Association meeting to highlight that it was able to identify undiagnosed AFib 98% of the time. Now, the algorithm is pending review with FDA.
Improving maternal health
Google is set to published "foundational, open-access research" that is focused on ultrasounds used during pregnancies.?Ultrasound is a diagnostic imaging method used to see images of internal organs and fetuses. According to Google's numbers, over half of all parents in low-to-middle-income countries do not receive ultrasounds.
Now, Google wants to use its expertise in artificial intelligence to help care providers "conduct ultrasounds and perform assessments." Google has partnered with Northwestern?Medicine to develop and test the models, keeping in mind maternal and fetal health risks.
What do you think about Google's attempts at prioritising health through its services? Let us know in the comments below.?For more in the world of?technology?and?science, keep reading?Indiatimes.com.
