---
title: "This High-Tech Toilet Seat Can Detect Heart Failure"
description: "## Toilet Seat-Based Monitoring"
date: "2019-03-20"
modified: "2019-03-20"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/toilet-seat-heart-failure"
categories:
  - "Health & Medicine"
tags:
  - "cdc"
  - "health monitor"
  - "heart attack"
  - "heart failure"
---

# This High-Tech Toilet Seat Can Detect Heart Failure

![A team of researchers invented a "toilet seat–based cardiovascular monitoring system" that could help hospitals monitor congestive heart failure patients.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/toilet-seat-heart-failure.png>)
*\<em\>Image: American Standards/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Toilet Seat-Based Monitoring

A team of researchers at the Rochester Institute of Technology [invented](<https://mhealth.jmir.org/2019/1/e12419/>) a "toilet seat-based cardiovascular monitoring system" that could help hospitals monitor patients for risk of congestive heart failure — a toilet, in other words, that detects whether your heart is about to give out.

"This system will be uniquely positioned to capture trend data in the home that has been previously unattainable," reads [the paper](<https://mhealth.jmir.org/2019/1/e12419/>), published in the journal *JMIR Mhealth Uhealth*.

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/196141_web.jpg>)
*Image Credit: A. Sue Weisler/RIT*

Integrated into the seat is a device that measure**s** heart rate, blood pressure, and blood oxygenation levels. Algorithms will take in all that data and notify health practitioners if the patient's condition deteriorates.

A trial involving 18 subjects over an eight week period seems to indicate that it's pretty accurate: "Clinical grade accuracy was achieved for all of the seat measurements when compared to their respective gold standards."

The goal is to lower the rate of readmission of patients with congestive heart failure. The team plans to bring the device to the Food and Drug Administration for clearance.

## The Widowmaker

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, about [630,000 Americans](<https://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fs_heart_disease.htm>) die from heart disease each year, accounting for one in every four deaths. Top risk factors include diabetes, obesity, poor diet, and a lack of physical activity.

"Typically, within 30 days of hospital discharge, 25 percent of patients with congestive heart failure are readmitted," [said Nicholas Conn](<https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-03/riot-tst032019.php>), a postdoctoral fellow at RIT and researcher on the toilet seat project. "After 90 days of hospital discharge, 45 percent of patients are readmitted. And the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is penalizing hospitals for readmitting patients for heart failure."

## Toilet Seat Treatment

The researchers argue providing patients who have experienced heart failures with the toilet seat could significantly save hospital systems [hundreds of thousands of dollars](<https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-03/riot-tst032019.php>) by lowering the readmission rate after a subsequent incident. After all, congestive heart failure is an issue with how your heart pumps blood, not a death sentence.

While there's often no cure, heart failure can be treated with a number of strategies, [according to the American Heart Association](<https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/heart-failure/treatment-options-for-heart-failure>), ranging from lifestyle changes and medications to ongoing care. And a toilet seat-based monitoring system could make those steps a whole lot easier, for patients and practitioners alike.

**READ MORE:** [Toilet seat that detects congestive heart failure getting ready to begin commercialization](<https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-03/riot-tst032019.php>) \[Rochester Institute of Technology\]

**More on heart disease:** *[Susceptible to Heart Disease? Gene Editing Could Change That](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/heart-disease-gene-editing>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)