The increasing prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, respiratory diseases, and obesity is driving exceptional growth in some consumer home-use medical device markets, according to an annual study by InMedica, a division of IMS Research. The company's Consumer Medical Devices Production Yearbook forecasts manufacturer revenues to reach over $5 billion by 2011, with a CAGR of almost 10 percent.

Consumer medical devices to manage diagnosed conditions such as diabetes and hypertension were the largest markets in 2006. Blood-glucose meters and blood-pressure monitors accounted for 21.5% and 23.4% of total market revenues in 2006 and are both forecast double-digit shipment growth to 2011.

Steven Burton, analyst at InMedica, said that the growing awareness of the benefits of self-monitoring and exercise regimes is also helping demand among health conscious consumers. "The fact that many affordable consumer medical devices are now readily available at well-known retailers is also an enabler for growth," said Burton.

The concept of telehealth is regularly heralded as a potential saviour to heavily over-burdened healthcare providers. In a telehealth enabled environment, a person can transmit health indicators such as blood pressure, heart-rate, blood glucose and temperature securely over a telecommunication network to health professionals for analysis.

"By shifting the management of chronic diseases away from the hospitals using consumer medical devices such as home-use digital blood-pressure monitors, the cost saving potential is huge. Telehealth is an industry buzzword, and manufacturers are keen to align their products as telehealth enabled," said Burton. He added that manufacturer workgroups such as the Continua Health Alliance demonstrate the commitment manufacturers are putting into making telehealth a reality, despite the considerable hurdles facing widespread adoption.

The telehealth concept can also be applied to sports and fitness monitors, where devices designed to aid exercise can be used for post-exercise analysis.

"Extra features that can provide motivation, such as the ability to analyse collected data on a laptop or mobile phone using software that can set achievable exercise goals, have the potential to take the level of value to the consumer to the next level," concluded Burton.

About this study

InMedica's report, The Consumer Medical Devices Production Yearbook 2007, analyses a number of factors driving the market for home-use health, fitness and wellness products forward.

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