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LIVING
Patch test?
A look at the rise and rise of sensor use and of virtual
healthcare services.
IDTechEx* has released a report
on the market for electronic skin
patches. The report captures
the impact of the COVID-19
pandemic as well as the broader
emerging trends across the relevant
product sectors.
Having covered the subject over
the last decade as part of wider
research efforts in wearables and
medical devices, this report looked
at each of the key market sectors
involved. Diabetes management
is the largest and most successful
sector, predominantly with CGM but
also increasing adoption of patch
pumps for insulin delivery and moves
towards closed-loop systems.
Cardiovascular monitoring is the
other sector generating revenue
in the billions of dollars each year
but is far more fragmented in
terms of players, product trends,
and geographies. These skin
patch cardiovascular monitors
are increasingly at the centre of
an expansion to a more general
approach to patient monitoring, both
for hospital inpatients and beyond
into various outpatient applications.
Other sectors such as temperaturebased
monitoring (fever monitoring,
fertility monitoring), electrical
stimulation devices, iontophoresis
(a treatment for excessive sweating),
and other patient monitoring devices
are also covered in the report.
On the impact of Covid-19,
James Hayward, Principal Analyst
at IDTechEx and lead author of
the report, said, "Rather than any
lasting negative impact as seen
elsewhere, the pandemic has led to
an acceleration in many of the key
trends underpinning the development
of this market. Wider adoption of
telehealth, additional drivers for
remote patient monitoring, and
larger-scale adoption of digital
patient management solutions
were all trends which we covered
previously, but the acceleration in
each has left us two years ahead of
our original projections for their
widespread adoption."
Telehealth
The report says that initial lockdowns
caused a significant negative
impact in many sectors due to the
postponement of 'non-essential'
physician visits. However, many
companies immediately shifted to
more telehealth-based services
which helped to meet the demand.
In addition, regulatory barriers were
Caption 28 application areas discussed within the report. Source IDTec.