Medical technology is moving towards transferring health checks from clinics and laboratories to places closer to our daily lives.
Scientists and companies are working on developing smart toilets capable of monitoring various vital signs, from heart rate and blood oxygen levels to urine and stool analysis, with the aim of detecting health problems at early stages.
The idea behind these toilets is to transform daily bathroom habits into a means of continuous health monitoring, so that changes that may indicate the presence of disease can be detected before clear symptoms appear, which may help to start treatment early.
One of the most notable developments in this field is a smart toilet seat designed by the German company Hamburger Medical, which is capable of performing an electrocardiogram to detect heart rhythm disorders, most notably atrial fibrillation, which is one of the most important risk factors for strokes.
Atrial fibrillation can lead to the formation of blood clots that can travel to the brain and cause a stroke. It is difficult to detect because it may appear and disappear intermittently, so some cases are not diagnosed until complications arise.
The diagnosis of atrial fibrillation currently relies on devices such as the "Holter" device, which monitors heart activity for up to 48 hours, but it provides a limited picture of the patient's condition over a short period and may be uncomfortable to use.
The smart toilet seat attempts to offer a more convenient alternative, as it contains four electrodes that record heart activity for 30 seconds when the user sits down, then sends the data to a phone app that can be shared with a doctor.
The company announced that a clinical trial comparing the results of the smart seat to traditional hospital electrocardiograms showed comparable ability in detecting heart rhythm disturbances, but the study's findings have not yet been published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. The seat costs slightly more than £1,000 ($1,337) and is currently only available in Germany.
These innovations are not limited to heart monitoring, as the American company "Casana" has developed a toilet seat equipped with technologies that measure heart rate and blood oxygen levels using optical sensors.
This technology may be particularly useful for people with lung conditions, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or lung cancer, who need to monitor their oxygen levels regularly.
Many patients currently use finger-mounted pulse oximeters to monitor blood oxygen levels, but smart toilets could provide an automated method that does not require a separate check.
On another front, technology companies are working on developing devices that monitor waste inside the toilet to detect various health indicators.
ThrunScience, an American company, has developed a special camera that analyzes stool in terms of color, texture, and size, with a focus on detecting the presence of blood, which is one of the indicators that may be associated with bowel cancer.
This technology also monitors urine characteristics and records its flow through a built-in microphone, which may help detect signs of benign prostatic hyperplasia in men, such as weak urine flow or frequent interruptions in urine flow.
Experts believe that detecting these changes early may help to begin treatment before the condition progresses.
Dr. James Kinross, a colorectal surgeon at Imperial College Healthcare and a spokesperson for Bowel Research UK, believes that smart toilets could become a useful tool in the future for detecting diseases such as bowel cancer, as well as for monitoring patients' response to various treatments.
Withings has also developed a urine analyzer that attaches to the front of the toilet and collects a small sample with each use to test indicators such as water content, acidity, and ketone levels.
Monitoring ketones is particularly important for people with diabetes, as elevated levels can indicate a dangerous buildup of acids in the blood. However, Professor of Endocrinology at Ulster University, Alex Miras, believes the technology still needs to prove its effectiveness compared to the portable ketone meters currently used by people with diabetes.
Despite the great potential of these technologies, experts warn that constant health monitoring may have a downside, as detecting normal changes in the body may cause unnecessary anxiety for some people.
As these devices develop, smart toilets may become part of the future healthcare system, but they will need to prove their accuracy and practical usefulness before they become widely used.
