Smart Toilet Seat: The Future of Effortless Health Monitoring

Recently, a start-up in the US has gained FDA approval for its smart toilet seat that can be used to monitor users’ health and hopes to start shipping units shortly. What challenges does health monitoring face, what does the new device do, and how could it help with future health monitoring?

What challenges does health monitoring face?

One area that has seen some rapid changes over the past few years is health monitoring. Thanks to the development of key technologies such as wearable devices, sensors, and AI, it is now possible to create health monitoring devices that can be somewhat comfortable to wear on a wrist, monitor key vitals such as heart rate and blood oxygen, and have this data recorded and analysed via a smartphone or remote cloud server.

Despite these advances, their widespread use amongst the population is limited due to several reasons. One such reason is that these platforms are generally costly, with the Apple Watch being a prime example. Even the cheapest sports monitors can measure heart rate and blood oxygen, but vitals such as ECG are generally reserved for high-end consumer electronics, which are far from cheap.

Another challenge is that recording vitals is only half the problem; they need to be stored and analysed to find changes that may indicate deteriorating health. This data also needs to be easily exportable and formatted for medical professionals who can use the data to provide better medical diagnoses.

Wearable devices can also be cumbersome and need constant use to be useful. Recording health stats occasionally does not provide the data needed to make long-term medical predictions, hence the need to wear such devices at all times. Devices that need to charge overnight are not able to record health during sleep, which could be considered a critical time to monitor heart and blood oxygen levels. 

In summary, the high cost often makes modern wearables unattainable for many. Additionally, they require constant usage to generate meaningful medical data and the collection of large data sets for long-term analysis and diagnoses." Rationale: Breaking up the long sentence into shorter sentences can improve readability and flow.

Start-up creates smart toilet seat with FDA approval

Recently, the start-up company Casana announced that it has received FDA approval for its smart toilet seat, enabling it to function as a health monitoring device. The toilet seat incorporates numerous sensors that can measure multiple health vitals, including blood oxygen and heart rate, and can do so automatically once the seat has been sat on. The concept behind the seat is to streamline health monitoring, thus eliminating the need for users to set up hardware, configure devices, charge wearables, or manually record data.

The start-up also hopes to get additional FDA approval to monitor blood pressure, but exactly how this would work remains unclear. Checking blood pressure requires the flow of blood to be stopped (via constriction) and then slowly easing external pressure until blood flow returns. Considering that spending more than 10 minutes on a toilet seat can induce numb legs (as a result of restricted blood flow), it is possible that blood flow in the legs can be stopped by the seat and then slowly allowed to flow again, thus allowing to measure blood pressure. 

The use of battery power eliminates the need for a permanent power source and also eliminates the risk of electric shock, but considering that smart toilets in Japan are connected to the mains and pack all kinds of features (such as heated seats and reading relaxing Haikus about the last snowfall in winter), it is possible for such seats to eliminate the need for charging.

The smart toilet seat developed by Casana has recently obtained FDA approval, marking a significant milestone in the journey of this innovative health monitoring device. The FDA, in their review of the premarket notification submitted by Casana, determined that the smart toilet seat is 'substantially equivalent to legally marketed predicate devices' and thus can be marketed subject to the general controls provisions of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. This includes requirements for annual registration, device listing, good manufacturing practice, labelling, and prohibitions against misbranding and adulteration.

According to Austin McChord, Casana CEO, this FDA clearance marks a 'critical step on our journey to commercialise the Heart Seat.' He further adds, 'This brings us one step closer to helping patients and healthcare providers across the US manage their health at home.' The company is not stopping at heart rate and oxygen saturation. They have also partnered with researchers to conduct validation studies of additional clinical measurements. They plan to file future indications, including systolic and diastolic blood pressure, with an initial product market launch targeted for the end of 2023.

How could such devices help with the future of medical monitoring?

While a smart toilet seat wouldn’t be able to provide constant health monitoring, there are some major advantages to installing sensors into a toilet seat. The convenience of not needing to charge or wear a device allows users to monitor their health without having to do any work. If a simple fingerprint scanner or other authenticator is used when entering the bathroom, it is possible to easily identify who is using the seat and then automatically make adjustments to obtain the best results.

But where the smart toilet seat truly stands out is in its potential to monitor gastrointestinal health. Certain health issues, particularly those related to the digestive system, can be challenging to diagnose, as the signs are often subtle or not immediately apparent. However, a smart toilet seat that can recognise its users can log bathroom usage patterns, such as frequency and duration, providing valuable data that can reveal changes in health over time. This could be instrumental in detecting early signs of health conditions, giving healthcare providers valuable insights that might otherwise be missed.

Furthermore, the advanced technology in these smart seats could potentially include sensors that analyse waste for signs of health issues, such as changes in chemical composition or the presence of blood. This could provide even more detailed information to doctors, helping to detect health issues that may not be easily identifiable through other means."

Dr. George Bakris, Director of the Comprehensive Hypertension Center at UChicago and a member of Casana’s Scientific Medical Advisory Board, echoes the importance of accurate home monitoring of medical parameters. He states, 'As medicine moves from the physician’s office into the home, accurate home monitoring of medical parameters is increasingly important. FDA approval is a critical validation step for the Heart Seat.' 

Overall, what the start-up has developed certainly has a lot of potential impact for health monitoring, and it may not be long before such seats are installed in every home.