A new research report from Berg Insight has calculated that around 2.2 million patients worldwide are currently using equipment that includes a home monitoring service with integrated connectivity. This figure only includes systems with integrated connectivity or monitoring hubs with built-in cellular or fixed-line modems and doesn’t include patients with monitoring devices connected to a separate PC or mobile phone.
Berg Insight forecasts that the number of home monitoring systems with integrated communication capabilities will grow at the equivalent of 18% per year between 2010 and 2016, reaching 4.9 million connections globally. The number of devices with integrated cellular connectivity increased from 420,000 in 2010 to about 570,000 in 2011 and is reach 2.47 million in 2016.
More than 200 million people in the EU and the USA are thought to suffer from chronic diseases where home monitoring can become a treatment option.
Lars Kurkinen, Telecom Analyst at Berg Insight, said “Home monitoring solutions that can communicate over a cellular network, landline connection or the Internet have already reached significant volumes within cardiac rhythm management, integrated telehealth solutions, sleep therapy and cardiac event monitoring.”
[Report brochure (pdf)]