Technology is facilitating this transformation, and one significant form of wearable technology being increasingly adopted by healthcare systems is the electronic skin patch: wearable devices attached to the skin that can wirelessly and continuously monitor physiology. In its recent report, "Electronic Skin Patches 2023-2033," market intelligence firm IDTechEx explores where these emerging devices can add value in different aspects of healthcare.
ECGs: Longer, Lighter, and Lower Intensity.Atrial fibrillation (AF), the most common type of heart rhythm disorder, greatly increases a patient's risk of stroke. Due to its intermittent nature, AF is a very difficult disease to diagnose. To detect AF, doctors monitor the patient's heart rhythm with electrocardiograms (ECGs): first, with a 12-lead ECG in the doctor's office, and if more data is needed over a longer period, then with a Holter monitor over a 24-hour period. However, these traditional monitors are bulky, have wires, and are uncomfortable for patients, who often pull out the wires and disrupt the readings. Thus, patient comfort and adherence to monitoring have been the biggest problem for which doctors have been seeking a solution. This is the key value that skin patches bring. Patients prefer them because they are a less bothersome, easy-to-use, and comfortable option. Adherence to ECG monitoring programs improves significantly with skin patches compared to conventional machines, and patients are more willing and able to wear the monitors for 48 hours or more. This has led to a rapid increase in long-wear monitors—long-wear Holter monitors and mobile cardiac telemetry devices—throughout the 2010s. The success of electronic ECG skin patches has not gone unnoticed, and the 2020s saw consolidation in this space: Philips acquired Biotelemetry, Boston Scientific acquired Preventice Solutions, and Baxter acquired Bardy Dx.
Addressing Healthcare Staff Shortages During the Pandemic:
In recent years, the biggest healthcare challenge has undoubtedly been the COVID-19 pandemic. The pressure of the pandemic has been a catalyst for the rapid adoption of electronic skin patches as part of a broader trend toward remote patient monitoring. The pandemic strained hospital systems and created staff shortages. Electronic skin patches are ideally suited to alleviate some of this pressure. Thanks to wireless communication, automated and continuous monitoring, and battery-powered quarantine periods, these devices allow caregivers to monitor multiple patients simultaneously through virtual wards. Several players, such as Lifesignals, Vivalink, and Vitalconnect, with remote vital signs monitoring skin patch platforms, saw increased interest in fever monitoring applications during the pandemic. Beyond the pandemic, remote fever monitoring has significant value for the early detection of infections in vulnerable patients. A key example is that of patients with neutropenia (reduced white blood cell count) after discharge from chemotherapy, in which early detection of fever using an electronic skin patch worn at home can greatly contribute to reducing the risks and intensity of treatment.
A New Opportunity: Decentralized Clinical Trials.
The pandemic not only changed the healthcare status quo but also profoundly affected the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Lockdowns around the world significantly impacted the development of clinical trials, leading affected companies to adopt a decentralized clinical trial model—a new market opportunity for electronic skin patches. The rise in decentralized clinical trials is not just a one-off spike in reaction to the pandemic. Rather, we can expect this market opportunity to continue growing in the future. Decentralized clinical trials offer two key benefits, in addition to those that emerged during the pandemic. First, decentralized clinical trials have the potential to reduce trial dropout rates—often a major cause of trial failure—by eliminating the challenge of travel to site visits. Second, removing the burden of routine meetings can increase a clinical trial's ability to reach underserved populations and enhance study diversity. The use of electronic skin patches in decentralized clinical trials is still new, and the overall value of these devices has not yet been clearly demonstrated. However, more collaborations between pharmaceutical companies and skin patch manufacturers are expected in the coming years.
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