The lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movement has advanced due to recent headline news including Caitlyn Jenner featured on a magazine cover, and the United States Supreme Court preparing to make a ruling on national same-sex marriage. Now a new ResearchKit app on the Apple iPhone will conduct an LGBT health study through a survey that addresses issues such as HIV/AIDS, cancer, smoking, obesity, and mental wellness.
The new medical research is called "PRIDE Study." Mitchell Lunn, director of the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) told BuzzFeed that the new iPhone app-based study will examine the relationship between being a LGBT person, and physical and mental health.
Lunn hopes that the new medical study will address the health issues of bisexual and transgender people in particular. Research data on them is limited.
LGBT health advocates are also excited about the study's use of smartphone tech. It will prevent the need to find study volunteers to sign up and then visit a clinic.
In one day over 11,000 iPhone users signed up for Stanford University's ResearchKit app, for a health study to check heart health, according to MacWorld. A medical study would usually need one year to reach that figure.
The PRIDE Study will receive suggestions for LGBT health topics that it should take up. UCSF researchers will then compile a list of survey questions.
Lunn has stated that Apple employees are excited about the new iPhone app, due to CEO Tim Cook being a LGBT advocate. He told Bloomberg last October that he has gay pride.
In 2011 The Institute of Medicine stated there is a "clear need" for complete medical research that examines the unique health needs of LGBT people, according to BuzzFeed. It then argued that the U.S. has not yet defined those needs.
The new PRIDE health study app is downloadable at the Apple App Store.