From mirrors to toilets to wearables: How tech is bringing instant healthcare to us

Editor’s note: Tom Snyder, executive director of rapidly growing Raleigh-based RIoT and a thought leader in the emerging Internet of Things, recently joined WRAL TechWire’s list of top drawer contributors. “Datafication Nation” premiers today. His columns will be part of WRAL TechWire’s Startup Monday package.

+++

RALEIGH – One day we will have difficulty explaining to our children and grandchildren that we used to manage our health with just one or two data points per year. In an era when many of us only visit a doctor once every 6-12 months, that is exactly how much measured data we collect, which our doctor then uses to make healthcare and medical recommendations.

I have regularly discussed in this column how nearly every industry is now deploying sensors to  collect continuous real-time data. When we collect regular data streams, we can continuously monitor and analyze those streams to automate a response.

Real-time data collection and analysis enables self-driving cars, instant credit card fraud detection and continuous energy management, among other things.

How do we bring this paradigm to healthcare?  When will we “automate” health management through real-time and continuous data capture? Here are a few of my thoughts on where we’ll collect regular and real-time health data in the near future.

Wearables

For nearly 15 years, wearable electronics have helped us to better understand everything from our activity levels to our respiration. Most wearable devices, like the Fitbit or Apple Watch are consumer-grade, but with more than a decade of data collected so far, expect consumer companies to enter the market with FDA-approved versions to provide us real-time health analytics. In parallel, I expect us to integrate health monitoring directly into our clothing. The ASSIST Center at NC State leads a national effort to develop non-invasive health sensors that operate at such low power levels that your body heat can power them without a battery. Self-powered, continuous monitoring is not too far away.

Implantables/Consumables

We are already adding more data collection and automation to pacemakers and other implanted devices. Dozens of “smart pills” are in various forms of clinical trials with at least two already FDA approved. Applications range from core body temperature monitoring during exertion to disease detection in the gastrointestinal tract. The Wireless Research Center in Wake Forest has been involved in advancing “personal area networks” that advance wireless technologies associated with the safe transmission of data from on and inside the body.

The Mirror

There are startups around the globe that have launched new products that pair advanced image analytics with health monitoring.  Many of these use a smartphone or other simple camera to monitor vital signs, detect disease and otherwise continuously watch for health changes and anomalies. It is easy to envision a time when you can simply look in your bathroom mirror and receive a daily health assessment and wellness recommendations.

The Toilet

The saying goes that “you are what you eat”. Analysis of urine and stool provides a wealth of detailed health information without the pain and inconvenience of blood draw or other invasive methods of collecting data. Intake is a local startup that has developed a low-cost sensor that can detect hundreds of analytes ranging from hydration to hypertension. Soon we will be able to know how our health is changing, without any change in lifestyle or our daily routines.

The Car, the Bed, the Desk and the Couch

Any scientist will tell you that it is easier to conduct experiments and research when you can control all of the variables, except the one you are investigating. As such, there are good reasons to try to regularly collect health data, but in very controlled environments.  It happens that most of us spend significant time sleeping, sitting and driving. These are activities where sensors may come in contact with our bodies, to collect data, but where there may be fewer other variables affecting that data than when we are conducting more dynamic activities. For example, many of us commute to work at the same time each day, with hands on a steering wheel, ideally suited for your daily health measurement.

In all of the above examples, there are privacy concerns, calibration and accuracy challenges and connectivity requirements that are still evolving. But I’m convinced that people will have the ability to privately collect continuous health data in the near future, and to choose how to share that with healthcare providers. And the great news is that we’ll be able to do this without changes in our daily routines.  We won’t even need to do the work to schedule a periodic doctor check-up – that’ll be automated too!

The post From mirrors to toilets to wearables: How tech is bringing instant healthcare to us first appeared on WRAL TechWire.

healthcare
health
medical
devices
health analytics
smartphone
fda
research
clinical trials