Grand View Research recently released its "Global Incontinence and Ostomy Care Products Industry Trends and Market Segment Forecasts To 2020" report. Therein, it is predicted that the industry will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 5.2% between 2013 and 2020. In the United States, this increase in demand for home health care products will be fueled in large part by the aging of Baby Boomers, a population segment that represents approximately 26 percent of the total U.S. population. But such demand will be a worldwide one.
According to a press release issued by the market research firm, in terms of dollar figures the home health care products segment comprised specifically of incontinence and ostomy care products "is expected to reach USD 17,184.2 million by 2020." Urinary issues of all kinds and inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn's and ulcerative colitis will be the main drivers behind this upward swing, but the fact that patients are becoming more aware of these conditions and how they can be managed also plays an integral role in the growth.
Even just 20 years ago, ostomy and incontinence patients really had nowhere to turn other than their health care provider or the library for information about their conditions. Bringing up such topics with a doctor can be so embarrassing that individuals suffer in silence rather than suffer the humiliation. In the past, even when they were able to summon up the courage to discuss the matter with their physicians and get advice on the appropriate products to manage their conditions, their only real source for such products was an in-person visit to a store-yet another embarrassing proposition.