Noninvasive Monitoring to Detect Dehydration: Are We There Yet?

The need for hydration monitoring is significant, especially for the very young and elderly populations who are more vulnerable to becoming dehydrated and suffering from the effects that dehydration brings. This need has been among the drivers of considerable effort in the academic and commercial sectors to provide a means for monitoring hydration status, with a special interest in doing so outside the hospital or clinical setting. This review of emerging technologies provides an overview of many technology approaches that, on a theoretical basis, have sensitivity to water and are feasible as a routine measurement. We review the evidence of technical validation and of their use in humans. Finally, we highlight the essential need for these technologies to be rigorously evaluated for their diagnostic potential, as a necessary step to meet the need for hydration monitoring outside of the clinical environment.