Wearable Medical Devices Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Product Type (Diagnostic, Therapeutic Devices), By Site (Handheld, Headband, Strap, Shoe Sensors), By Application, And Segment Forecasts, 2012 - 2022

Industry Insights

The global wearable medical devices market size was valued at USD 3.9 billion in 2014 and is expected to grow with a CAGR of 28% over the forecast period. Increasing demand for technologically advanced wearable medical devices, rising awareness regarding physical fitness, advent of new smartphone linked healthcare applications and growing demand for wireless connectivity in the healthcare industry are the key factors propelling the overall industry. Furthermore, constant growth of remote patient monitoring and home healthcare are expected to positively influence the wearable medical devices market globally.  

Increasing competition and rapid technological advancement is resulting in rising demand for innovative devices. Introduction of advanced products such as smart watches, wrist bands, fitness bands and glucose monitoring applications are of prime importance for the market growth. In addition, a shift in trend from traditional to wearable devices owing to the increasing digitization and rising tech savvy population is expected to propel the market. 

Rising prevalence of lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and obesity are boosting the demand for round-the-clock monitoring of various physiological factors such as blood sugar levels, calorie intake and blood pressure monitoring. Hence, facilitating the integration of healthcare data with portable products, and further this can be forwarded to physicians in order to have real-time access to data and reduce errors, thereby boosting the industry demand.

Wearable medical devices offer round-the-clock monitoring of patients as many of these products can be worn for 24 hours without affecting the routine life. Considering these distinct advantages, the demand for these products is anticipated to boost over the forecast period.

Growing per capita income in the developed nations is encouraging the adoption of wearable medical devices driving the overall market towards growth. Additionally, the developed countries also have major issues of lifestyle oriented diseases boosting the demand for these products.

On the other hand, issues such as data security & privacy and lack of reimbursement are challenging the market growth. Using wearable medical devices with Bluetooth and cloud connectivity, hospitals and clinics generate a pool of patient’s vital statistics. Rising cybercrimes and hacking incidences pose a major constraint to the wearable medical devices market in terms of providing secure and confidential platforms to patients.

Lack of medical reimbursement facility coupled with increasing cost of medical diagnosis and surgeries is de-motivating patients to take proper health treatment. It protects patients in expending heavy amount for medical treatments at once and motivating them to cure the disease at the early stage or immediately after detection. However, wearable medical devices such as fitness trackers, smart watches, wrist bands, and head gears used for the purpose of activity tracking, routine monitoring, and data collection of vital parameters are not eligible for reimbursement. Due to this unavailability, individuals with high disposal income are currently the potential consumers of the market, limiting its growth.

Product Insights

On the basis of product, the market is segmented into diagnostic and therapeutic segments. The diagnostic segment include, vital sign monitoring, sleep monitoring, electrocardiographs, fetal and obstetric, and neuromonitoring devices.

Diagnostic segment dominated the product segment in 2014. This can be attributed to the increasing applications of diagnostic and monitoring products in remote patient monitoring and home healthcare. However, therapeutic segment is anticipated to exhibit lucrative growth over the forecast period, owing to increasing demand with expanding patient pool.

Therapeutic segment is classified as pain management, insulin/glucose monitoring, rehabilitation and respiratory therapy devices. Insulin/glucose monitoring devices held a substantial share in 2014 and is expected to show lucrative growth over the next seven years as well. Rising R&D and speedy approval of wearable devices are the prime factors for the fastest growth rate of the therapeutic segment.

According to guidelines published by the WHO and American Diabetes Association, diabetic patients need to maintain vital parameters such as body weight, glucose level, physical activity and food intake on a daily basis. Hence, these guidelines are boosting the growth of the product segment across the globe. 

Site Insights

Based on site of application, the wearable devices market is segmented into; handheld, shoe sensors, headband, strap/clip/bracelet and others. Strap/clip/bracelet or wrist worn devices are expected to hold over 40.0% of the revenue share.

Advancements in wrist worn devices such as smart watches and health bands allow monitoring of multiple parameters such as respiratory rate, pulse rate and physical activity coupled with bluetooth and/cloud connectivity. These on-the-go, user friendly devices are the most preferred owing to the rising concerns of managing health along with the daily routine.

HealthPatch, a product of Vital Connect launched in March 2014, is an adhesive 115 X 40 mm patch that is placed on the chest and is used to regulate biometrics such as skin temperature, heart rate, body posture, and activities such as number of steps taken per day. Many such advancements are expected to meet the demand for round-the-clock monitoring.

The major players such as Apple & Samsung have introduced mobile applications compatible with the wearable medical devices enabling digital display and data recording. Such applications are attracting the tech savvy population towards regular health monitoring using wearable medical devices, thereby impelling global market.

Application Insights

Wearable medical devices market on the basis of application is segmented into; remote patient monitoring, sports and fitness, and home healthcare. Home healthcare dominated the application segment and is predicted to maintain its dominance over the forecast period owing to increasing technological advancement in medical products to infuse higher accuracy and easier usage by individuals without professional assistance.

In addition, user friendly interface and ability to synchronize with mobile phones and tablets support the segment growth. Growing base of geriatric population triggering incidence rates of target diseases and the increasing need to curb healthcare expenditure as an economically viable initiative are some high impact rendering drivers for the growth of the home healthcare market.

On the contrary, remote patient monitoring is expected to exhibit fastest growth rate over the forecast period. Rising concern of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, sleep disorders, diabetes & obesity and need for continuous monitoring can be attributed to the fastest growth rate of remote patient monitoring segment. 

Additionally, the sports and fitness segment is expected to exhibit a lucrative growth over the forecast period owing to rising focus of people towards healthier lifestyle and overall physical fitness. Usually, wristbands or mobile phones are used to track all activities such as steps walked, calories burned, calorie intake, miles a person ran, etc. By compiling all information together, vital information such as body mass index is obtained and studied to provide a good health plan to individuals. Hence, the aforementioned factors are anticipated to drive the market growth globally.

Regional Insights

North America held the largest share of the global market in 2015. The factors such as growing prevalence of chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disorder, and obesity is attributed to the largest market share of the region. In addition, increasing application of remote patient monitoring and home care for the purpose of regular, continuous, and long-term monitoring of patients coupled with the need for reducing the frequency of hospital visits are anticipated to fuel this market growth over the forecast period.

Asia Pacific is expected to be a lucrative market over the forecast period rapid introduction of technologically advanced systems. Major factors boosting market growth are favorable government initiatives for use of such medical products, increasing geriatric population base, and increasing healthcare expenditure in this region.

Japan is the largest contributor to the Asia Pacific market owing to high healthcare expenditure and rising R&D. Whereas, India and China are expected to grow with fastest growth rate over the forecast period owing to the rising geriatric and diseases population coupled with the need for population health management, thereby rising healthcare expenditure.

Europe on the other hand is expected to be driven due to the rise in geriatric population base in countries such as Germany and the UK, which is expected to ultimately lead to higher adoption of round the clock monitoring. The total healthcare spending of the UK is 9.9% of country’s GDP whereas, in Germany 11.1% of the GDP is spent on healthcare thus improving the healthcare infrastructure and increasing disposable income amongst the people.

Wearable Medical Devices Market Share Insights

Some of the key market players in this vertical include Fitbit Inc., Garmin, Vital Connect, Omron Corp., Sotera Wireless, Jawbone, Pebble Technology Corp., Basis Science Inc., Withings, Intelesens Ltd., Covidien Plc, LifeWatch AG, Polar Electro, Philips Electronics, and Everist Genomics.

Zephyr Technology Corporation, dealing with physical status monitoring products was acquired by Covidien Plc in May 2014. This acquisition is expected to provide wearable patient monitoring products at lower cost of production and simultaneously increase market penetration with the expanded product portfolio. BioHarness is a popular product manufactured by Zephyr Technology Corporation. The products helps in monitoring of heart rate, R-R interval, respiration rate, and ECG, posture and activity level of individual wearing it. Key parameters affecting competition are rapid adoption of advanced treatment options for improved healthcare coupled with the rising need for optimum capital utilization.

Report Scope

Segments covered in the report

This report forecasts revenue growth at global, regional & country levels and provides an analysis on the industry trends in each of the sub segments from 2014 to 2022. For the purpose of this study, Grand View Research has segmented the global wearable medical devices market report based on product type, site, application and region:

• Product Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2012 - 2022)

  • Diagnostic Devices

    • Vital sign monitors

      • Heart rate monitors

      • Activity monitors

      • Electrocardiographs

      • Pulse oximeter

      • Spirometers

      • Blood pressure monitors

      • Other vital sign monitors

    • Sleep monitoring devices

      • Sleep tracker

      • Wrist Actigraphs

      • Polysomnographs

      • Other sleep monitors

    • Electrocardiographs fetal & obstetric devices

    • Neuromonitoring devices

      • Electroencephalograms

      • Electromyography

      • Other neuromonitoring devices

  • Therapeutic Devices

  • Pain management devices

    • Neurostimulation devices

    • Other pain management devices

  • Insulin monitoring devices

    • Insulin pumps

    • Other insulin monitoring devices

  • Rehabilitation devices

    • Accelerometers

    • Sensing Devices

    • Ultrasound platform

    • Other rehabilitation devices

  • Respiratory therapy devices

    • Ventilators

    • Positive airway pressure(PAP)

    • Portable oxygen concentrators

    • Other respiratory therapy devices

• Site Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2012 - 2022)

  • Handheld

  • Headband

  • Strap/Clip/Bracelet

  • Shoe sensors

• Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2012 - 2022)

  • Sports and Fitness

  • Remote Patient Monitoring

  • Home Healthcare

• Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2012 - 2022)

  • North America

    • U.S.

    • Canada

  • Europe

    • U.K.

    • Germany

  • Asia Pacific

    • India

    • China

  • Latin America

    • Brazil

    • Mexico

  • Middle East & Africa

    • South Africa