Roon App Review: AI-Powered Menopause Advice

As a well being journalist, I understand how troublesome it may be to seek out correct well being data 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 prime of the web page are from authentic medical sources or some woo-woo wellness website that hasn’t been touched in years. Even in my private life, it may be tough to seek out assets in regards to the situations I’ll face as a lady—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. Working example: Greater than 1 million Americans undergo menopause annually, however research discover that 80 percent of those people have restricted data about menopause, by no means discovered about it in class, or have a unfavourable angle towards the life section altogether. No surprise so many people are too embarrassed to convey up our issues on the OB/GYN, which may result in gaps in high quality care.

That is the place AI—and customized well being recommendation within the type of an app—will be helpful. Meet Roon, an app that companions world-class healthcare suppliers with synthetic intelligence to bridge the divide between individuals and dependable well being data. Not too long ago, Roon launched Roon Menopause—a platform that serves as a digital library for all of the menopause questions you could have, from methods to tame a sizzling flash to navigating hormone remedy, with solutions from real-life medical consultants.

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.

First, what’s Roon?

Roon is an app that places free, expert-driven assets on a number of well being situations at your fingertips. Circumstances 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, grew to become a caregiver for his father with ALS and observed a disturbing ignorance 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 data,” Bhaskaran says. “In relation to well being, it generally looks like we’re nonetheless at the hours of darkness 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 smart that we flip to the Web for assist.

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

On prime of that, customers may also reap the benefits of the “ask a query” search software to seek out solutions, all with the assistance of AI know-how. (Extra on this under.)

How Roon makes use of AI to offer well being data

As a substitute 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 inside the app. This ensures you are getting correct and dependable solutions straight from an expert 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 find out about you so we will finally change into your customized information for well being,” says Bhaskaran. Plus, in case you add your age and gender identification, “we will additionally personalize content material based mostly on the place you’re in your journey,” he provides. So, for instance, in case you’re a 40-year-old feminine who’s making an attempt to get pregnant, it’d counsel you watch perimenopause or fertility content material.

Whereas this service would not substitute 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 alternative method, which is there’s nothing extra human than a physician trying right into a digicam answering your query while you’re going by way of a tough journey,” Bhaskaran provides.

Different Roon Menopause options

The very first thing you may discover about Roon Menopause is its user-friendliness. Irrespective of your stage of tech talent, the easy design makes it pretty simple to sift by way of every tab and part. You can begin trying to find data based mostly on the kind of skilled 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 situations you could have (like osteoporosis or depression), or different matters, like therapies, prognosis, causes, and extra.

When you discover a subject you are thinking about, you’ll be able to watch quick movies or learn written responses from quite a lot of suppliers, who Bhaskaran says will not be 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 medical 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 features of menopause. So you might discover matters like “methods to comfortably have intercourse with vaginal dryness,” “methods to discuss to your associate about menopause,” or “methods to begin your fertility remedy in case you’re additionally in perimenopause.” It additionally gives suggestions for optimum vitamin, train, holistic vs. conventional drugs practices, and particular remedy choices for every menopause symptom you are dealing with.

Here is extra of a breakdown of the options:

• Knowledgeable 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
• On the spot solutions by way of an AI-powered search software
• Recommendation from individuals with lived expertise
• A number of skilled views on extremely debated remedy choices (comparable 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 laborious questions or ones you might be too uncomfortable to ask your supplier about. “That is just the start of how we’ll assist ladies throughout their lifetime well being journeys by way of skilled steerage,” he provides.

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

Inside the previous few years, some individuals have shied away from utilizing interval monitoring apps for concern that their reproductive well being data shall be shared and sold to third parties or that it might be used in opposition to them at healthcare amenities or in authorized proceedings. It is because interval trackers cannot solely log menstruation, but in addition missed durations, miscarriages, and infertility.

However relaxation assured that with Roon, the personal particulars you share about your reproductive well being keep inside 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.

Remaining 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 begin, or know a liked one presently going by way of the life section, apps like Roon Menopause—which mixes AI with medically sound data—can reduce by way of the noise, misinformation, and even medical gaslighting you might face, each on-line and in particular person.