The global wearable medical devices market is estimated to reach 14.6 Billion by 2023 from $ 5.5 Billion in 2017, at a CAGR of 18.5% during the forecast period during the forecast period of 2018-2023.
The market for wearable medical devices is expected to attain a considerably high growth in coming years as their impact is not merely limited to the usual customer uses, like activity tracking and smart watches but are extended deep into medical applications. A majority of successful wearable devices are the ones that are designed to aid diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of specific medical conditions that the smartphone apps are unable to address. Unlike health apps or conventional wearables that merely track the number of calories burned by the user, medical wearables are designed to address a range of specific medical conditions like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, heart arrhythmia, pain management, breast cancer, and various other ailments. Instead of just tracking data on smart phone, medical wearables allow the medical personnel to compile relevant data and offer diagnosis, aid patient management, and help research studies. This is one of the key drivers of this market.
Additionally, the growing prevalence of diseases that requiring continuous monitoring is another major trend that is responsible for propelling the market for wearable medical device market. Some of the specific areas like patient monitoring, home healthcare, and health and fitness are key factors responsible for this trend. Furthermore, technological advancements and appealing product features like smartphone connectivity coupled with the increasing smart phone penetration and growth in the healthcare smart phone apps are also likely to drive the adoption of wearable medical devices.
Moreover, there is an increasing requirement for self-health monitoring and preventive medicine owing to the projected exponential increase in the geriatric population. Recent advancements in these technologies have the capability to reduce the overall costs for prevention and monitoring. This is possible by constantly monitoring health indicators in various areas, which is easily achievable through the use of wearable medical devices. Moreover, to structure the medical Internet of Things, these wearable devices now have been efficiently integrated with telemedicine and telehealth. All these factors are collectively responsible for driving the growth of this market
However, some of the major restraining factors in this market include the complexity involved in their designing and development process, their high cost and regulatory obstacles. The stringent safety and accuracy standards that these devices need to meet is a key factor responsible for the current limited adoption of these devices. Regulatory obstacles, compliance issues, and the insurance reimbursement must all be considered when anticipating the broader use of medical-grade wearable devices. Moreover, the accuracy of popular wellness trackers is highly debated and these wearable medical products need to be validation and approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and ISO standards, where the accuracy and reliability is strictly monitored. Moreover, these devices present certain limitations, as most of these are not suitable for the medical monitoring of high risk patients. In-spite of these limitations, the perceived benefits successful products which are yet to be launched will drive the market to nearly $ 5.5 billion.
The segments are categorized by type (activity monitors, smartwatches, smart clothing, patches), distribution channel (pharmacies, online channel, hypermarkets) by device type [diagnostic & monitoring devices, vital signs monitoring devices (heart rate monitors, pulse oximeters, blood pressure monitors, glucose monitoring devices, sleep monitoring devices, fetal monitoring & obstetric devices, neuromonitoring devices), therapeutic devices (pain management devices, rehabilitation devices, respiratory therapy devices, insulin pumps], by application (sports & fitness, remote patient monitoring, home healthcare)
Some of the key answers the study intends to provide are-
• Why activity monitors segment is expected to grow at a faster rate?
• What are the impacts of the regulatory scenario?
• Which companies having an edge?
• Why sports and fitness segment is expected to grow at a higher growth rate?
• What are the latest technology trends?
• Survey on “Customer Preference on wearable medical devices”.
Some of the major players dominating the market are Philips, Garmin, Lifewatch, Omron, Drägerwerk, Nokia Technologies, Jawbone, Polar Electro, World Global Network [Wor(L)D], Activeinsights, Vitalconnect, Xiaomi, Misfit and Monica Healthcare.