Roon App Review: AI-Powered Menopause Advice

As a well being journalist, I understand how troublesome it may be to search out correct well being info on-line. Within the age of AI-powered search engines like google and yahoo, you by no means fairly know if the solutions served as much as you on the high of the web page are from official medical sources or some woo-woo wellness website that hasn’t been touched in years. Even in my private life, it may be difficult to search out sources in regards to the circumstances I’ll face as a girl—and I do know I am not alone in that have.

From menstruation to fertility, and sure, even to menopause, there’s nonetheless a lot thriller surrounding ladies’s well being. Living proof: Greater than 1 million Americans undergo menopause every year, however research discover that 80 percent of those people have restricted data about menopause, by no means realized about it at school, or have a unfavourable perspective towards the life section altogether. No surprise so many people are too embarrassed to carry up our considerations on the OB/GYN, which might result in gaps in high quality care.

That is the place AI—and personalised well being recommendation within the type of an app—may be helpful. Meet Roon, an app that companions world-class healthcare suppliers with synthetic intelligence to bridge the divide between folks and dependable well being info. Not too long ago, Roon launched Roon Menopause—a platform that serves as a digital library for all of the menopause questions you’ll have, from the right way to tame a scorching flash to navigating hormone remedy, with solutions from real-life medical specialists.

I had the chance to talk with Roon CEO and co-founder Vikram Bhaskaran to be taught extra in regards to the launch. Here is what to anticipate when you hit obtain on iOS.

Associated Tales

First, what’s Roon?

Roon is an app that places free, expert-driven sources on a number of well being circumstances at your fingertips. Situations featured on the app embrace ALS, dementia, endometriosis, fertility, glioblastoma, PCOS, and now, menopause. The app was born when Bhaskaran, a former tech developer with Pinterest, turned a caregiver for his father with ALS and seen a disturbing lack of know-how in regards to the sickness on-line.

“Like most caregivers on the planet, I spent hundreds of hours on Dr. Google, Fb teams, Instagram, and TikTok to attempt to discover medically vetted info,” Bhaskaran says. “With regards to well being, it generally appears like we’re nonetheless at nighttime ages.” However between how lengthy it takes to see a specialist, plus suppliers solely spending about 18 minutes on common with sufferers per appointment, Bhaskaran says it solely is sensible that we flip to the Web for assist.

Utilizing his tech-savvy and appreciation for stunning, algorithm-driven apps like Pinterest, Bhaskaran teamed up along with his co-founder Rohan Ramakrishna, MD, a neurosurgeon at Weill Cornell, engineers, and designers to develop Roon, which homes a whole lot of pre-recorded movies of healthcare suppliers answering the highest questions they get requested on daily basis.

On high of that, customers can even benefit from the “ask a query” search software to search out solutions, all with the assistance of AI expertise. (Extra on this beneath.)

How Roon makes use of AI to offer well being info

As an alternative of gathering solutions from everywhere in the Web like different AI-powered search engines like google and yahoo, Roon’s “ask a query” AI software solely pulls quotes from the pre-recorded content material that exists throughout the app. This ensures you are getting correct and dependable solutions straight from knowledgeable every time you search, and never some unknown supply.

As soon as your query has been answered, the AI software auto-populates associated questions, which is how the personalization takes form. “The extra you employ it, the extra we study you so we will finally grow to be your personalised information for well being,” says Bhaskaran. Plus, should you add your age and gender id, “we will additionally personalize content material primarily based on the place you might be in your journey,” he provides. So, for instance, should you’re a 40-year-old feminine who’s making an attempt to get pregnant, it would counsel you watch perimenopause or fertility content material.

Whereas this service does not change the necessity for actual visits together with your healthcare supplier, it may assist these with a scarcity of access to quality care or insufficient health insurance really feel extra empowered—and fewer confused—about their well-being. “Within the age of AI-generated content material, we’re going the other manner, which is there’s nothing extra human than a physician trying right into a digicam answering your query if you’re going via a tough journey,” Bhaskaran provides.

Different Roon Menopause options

The very first thing you may discover about Roon Menopause is its user-friendliness. Regardless of your degree of tech ability, the easy design makes it pretty simple to sift via every tab and part. You can begin looking for info primarily based on the kind of knowledgeable you wish to hear from (like a reproductive endocrinologist, OB/GYN, or holistic practitioner), the signs you are experiencing (like vaginal dryness, fatigue, or insomnia), co-occurring circumstances you’ll have (like osteoporosis or depression), or different matters, like remedies, prognosis, causes, and extra.

When you discover a subject you are eager about, you possibly can watch quick movies or learn written responses from quite a lot of suppliers, who Bhaskaran says usually are not solely closely vetted earlier than becoming a member of the app, however are additionally nice communicators with good bedside method IRL. Some notable names embrace Mindy Goldman, MD, the chief scientific officer at MIDI Health, Corrine Menn, MD, with Alloy Women’s Health, and Rajita Patil, MD, a menopause specialist at UCLA Health, amongst others.

From there, the AI characteristic will counsel different matters or questions you may ask. Contemplate it a private search engine and doctor-filled social feed multi function.

And we’re not simply speaking about bodily well being right here: Roon Menopause additionally spans the psychological, emotional, and sexual wellness points of menopause. So you could discover matters like “the right way to comfortably have intercourse with vaginal dryness,” “the right way to speak to your associate about menopause,” or “the right way to begin your fertility therapy should you’re additionally in perimenopause.” It additionally provides suggestions for optimum diet, train, holistic vs. conventional drugs practices, and particular therapy choices for every menopause symptom you are dealing with.

Here is extra of a breakdown of the options:

• Professional community of over 60 licensed healthcare suppliers
• 1000’s of pre-recorded Q&A movies and written content material
• Roughly 1,300 answered questions
• Over 100 associated subtopics
• Immediate solutions via an AI-powered search software
• Recommendation from folks with lived expertise
• A number of knowledgeable views on extremely debated therapy choices (similar to hormone therapy)
• Culturally delicate and trauma-informed content material
• Subsequent-step recommendation for receiving care

Finally, Bhaskaran says this service is a secure place to ask the arduous questions or ones you could be too uncomfortable to ask your supplier about. “That is only the start of how we’ll help ladies throughout their lifetime well being journeys via knowledgeable steerage,” he provides.

Sure, it is private, however is your knowledge secure?

Inside the previous few years, some folks have shied away from utilizing interval monitoring apps for worry that their reproductive well being info shall be shared and sold to third parties or that it could be used in opposition to them at healthcare services or in authorized proceedings. It’s because interval trackers can’t solely log menstruation, but additionally missed durations, miscarriages, and infertility.

However relaxation assured that with Roon, the personal particulars you share about your reproductive well being keep throughout the app, and are solely used to additional optimize your expertise, says Bhaskaran. Knowledge is saved domestically and by no means shared with third events.

Last ideas

There’s nothing extra comforting than having a trusted healthcare supplier’s recommendation by your facet—particularly throughout a time like menopause. Whether or not you are already in it, about to start out, or know a cherished one presently going via the life section, apps like Roon Menopause—which mixes AI with medically sound info—can reduce via the noise, misinformation, and even medical gaslighting you could face, each on-line and in individual.