With diabetes on an impending rise across the globe, essentially on account of the growing geriatric populace, diabetic retinopathy market has lately been gaining heavy momentum. Subject to an unhealthy lifestyle and genetic composition, the prevalence of the disease has been robustly increasing by the day, enabling the requirement of effective treatment solutions, further providing a boost to diabetic retinopathy industry. According to WHO, diabetes has taken the shape of a global epidemic which is the root cause of various diseases that can endanger human lives if left untreated.
U.S. Diabetic Retinopathy Market Size, By Type, 2018 & 2025 (USD Million)
Speaking along similar lines, diabetic retinopathy is a kind of visual disorder induced by diabetes or high blood sugar levels that block small blood vessels supplying blood to the retina. The chances of suffering from diabetic retinopathy further increase through undiagnosed diabetes and unchecked levels of blood sugar, cholesterol and blood pressure. As a sedentary lifestyle coupled with rising obesity and non-compliance to maintaining a healthy lifestyle post diagnosis is becoming pandemic, diabetic retinopathy industry is predicted to witness an appreciable CAGR between 2019-2025.
The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) estimated that in 2010, 126.6 million people were globally affected by diabetic retinopathy – a figure that is projected to increase to 191 million in 2030. Such an increase in the incidence of this disorder will quite inevitably stimulate the diabetic retinopathy market share, as awareness about the condition is likely to increase the scope of prevention and treatment of this disease. In countries where awareness and treatment facilities are on the lower side, diabetes will continue to prevail, nonetheless, propelling the growth of diabetic retinopathy industry.
It is pivotal to remember if left untreated for long, diabetic retinopathy can evolve to become visual threatening diabetic retinopathy (VTDR), which has been identified by the NCBI to be one of the leading causes of blindness around the world. Studies by NCBI attributed 37.3 million cases of blindness due to VTDR, which may increase to 56.3 million in 2030. However, it is prudent to note that an unhealthy lifestyle is not the only cause of this disorder – the patient’s advancing age plays a major role as well to cause diabetic retinopathy or age related macular degeneration (AMD). Thus, diabetic retinopathy market will continue to depict an upward trend between 2019 and 2025 not only because of the increasing cases of diabetes and AMD but also because of rising awareness about diabetic retinopathy and its blindness-causing abilities.
Non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy market is registered to have been a lucrative vertical in 2018, a trend that is predicted to continue over 2019-2025. Indeed, non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy industry size was pegged at USD 5.6 billion in 2018, pertaining to the fact that this type of disorder has better chances of being cured than proliferated diabetic retinopathy, which for the record, is a severe stage of the disorder that can lead to blindness. On that note, it is important to mention that the rising awareness about the disease has indeed prompted diabetic patients to opt for regular eye screenings, which has decreased the incidence of proliferated diabetic retinopathy, negatively impacting diabetic retinopathy industry size.
In case of proliferated diabetic retinopathy, a study suggests that an increased level of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) detected in the fibrovascular tissues of eyes, has led to the usage of anti VEGF, that has proven to be one of the most effective management methods for proliferated diabetic retinopathy, driving the growth of the overall diabetic retinopathy market. Other treatment methods like intraocular steroid injection are also expected to positively influence diabetic retinopathy industry growth, subject to the growing popularity of non-invasive diabetic retinopathy treatment and easy availably of intraocular steroid injections in clinics. However, the results of intraocular steroid injections are less satisfactory than anti VEGF, and therefore will witness limited growth in diabetic retinopathy market.
Diabetes, once deemed as the disease that affected only the affluent, has now reached an epidemic frontier in both developed and developing countries. With the spread of diabetes, related diseases like diabetic retinopathy are also becoming rampant, on the grounds of which diabetic retinopathy industry has been progressing significantly across the globe. Say for example, Europe diabetic retinopathy market size was pegged at USD 2.3 billion in 2018, on account of the extensive awareness of the disorder as well as the availability of technologically advanced treatment options.
Innovation in medical technologies to combat this dreaded disease is expected positively impact diabetic retinopathy market. With a major upsurge in the prevalence of diabetes and growing elderly population susceptible to lifestyle diseases, it is expected that dynamic research and development in the field of diabetic retinopathy will be reinvigorated, thereby stimulating diabetic retinopathy market size in the ensuing years.