Home Healthcare Sensor Market to Double by 2018

Home healthcare refers to the at-home care provided to a person with special needs. This includes people who are aging, chronically ill, recovering from surgery, or disabled. Transferring a patient from a hospital to the home implies a relocation of care systems, and in order to maintain the same level of care quality with less human involvement, home care sensors are needed for a range of specific applications ordinarily performed by nurses, such as guaranteeing patient comfort, ensuring patient safety, monitoring body parameters and treatments, and drug delivery.

As a result, sensors for home care are being adopted in five care segments: smart drug delivery, patient safety, diagnostics, continuous patient monitoring, and patient comfort. Multiple types of sensors are being adapted for these home care segments, including accelerometers, barometers, electrochemical biosensors, flow sensors, gyroscopes, humidity sensors, infrared (IR) temperature sensors, magnetometers, microfluidic chips, microphones, photodetectors, pressure sensors, proximity IR sensors, radio frequency (RF) microelectromechanical (MEM) and identification (RFID) systems, and strain sensors.

“Sensors previously developed for nonmedical applications are transitioning to home care applications; due to the entire system’s immaturity, the supply chain for sensors in home care applications is still under construction,” said Yole medical technologies project manager Benjamin Roussel, BSc. “Sensor players are prepared to supply qualified MEMS sensors, but integrators, information and communication technologies players, and home implementation players still face many difficulties.”

By 2050, the proportion of the world’s population aged 60 and over will grow from about 16% today to 25%, an increase linked to a marked growth of chronic diseases (Alzheimer’s, diabetes, cancers, etc.). Another factor is the healthcare systems’ rising costs and projected physician shortages, which are paving the way for increased home care.

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