Smart toilet seat helps monitor heart health

US researchers have devised a toilet seat that can monitor for signs of congestive heart failure at home, preventing unnecessary hospital readmissions.

The device was developed by Heart Health Intelligence, a spinout from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). It is equipped to measure the electrical and mechanical activity of the heart, monitoring heart rate, blood pressure and blood oxygenation levels, as well as the patient's weight and stroke volume, which is the amount of blood pumped out of the heart at every beat.  

Algorithms then analyse this data. With further development, the toilet seat device will be able to alert healthcare professionals to a patient’s deteriorating condition, picking up symptoms before a patient is even aware there is a problem. According to the developers, the need for such a system is driven by the strikingly high number of hospital readmissions in the wake of congestive failure, something the US health system penalises hospitals for financially.