Pediatrics is the medical speciality dealing with the health and medical care of infants, children, and adolescents. Pediatric medical devices are used to diagnose and treat diseases and conditions from birth through age 21. Some devices are designed specifically for children, while other devices are borrowed from adult applications or produced for more general use. Pediatric medical devices are considered a vital component of pediatric healthcare, as they are essential to prevent, diagnose, treat and rehabilitate illnesses and diseases in a safe and effective way. Thus, there is an increasing demand for pediatric medical devices worldwide.
Market Statistics:
The global Pediatric Medical Devices Market is estimated to account for US$ 34,480.1 Mn in terms of value by the end of 2022.
Drivers:
Increasing prevalence of chronic diseases in the pediatric population is expected to propel growth of the global pediatric medical devices market during the forecast period. For instance, asthma is a major noncommunicable disease (NCD), affecting both children and adults, and is most common chronic disease among children. Asthma is more common in male children than female children. According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA), there are about 5.1 million children under the age of 18 with asthma. Moreover, according to the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (U.K.), asthma is one of the most common long term condition among children and young people, with 1.1 million children currently receiving asthma treatment.
Opportunities:
Increase in focus on the pediatric healthcare across the globe is expected to offer significant growth opportunities for players in the global pediatric medical devices market. For instance, the 2019 US federal budget included an additional UA$ 1 million for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to improve infrastructure for conducting paediatric device trials. FDA aims to increase innovation in pediatric medical devices by engaging representatives of pediatric health systems, the medical device industry, academic institutes, and organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics, and others. The FDA has also issued guidance documents on real-world evidence, and how it can be applied to paediatric devices.
Restraints:
Challenges to pediatric device development and lack of skilled professionals and lack of awareness among people are major factors expected to hinder growth of the global pediatric medical devices market. For instance, primary challenge in the pediatric devices development is that the production of pediatric medical devices is a time-consuming process. Moreover, in 2017, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) highlighted the challenges involved in developing pediatric devices, such as difficulties in running clinical trials owing to a small patient population with a particular disease. Furthermore, the need to understand as well as operate medical equipment requires some technical knowledge, and some paediatrician lack skills to operate pediatric devices.