Women’s Health Diagnostics Grows to USD 8 Billion Sector

The report says the female population can benefit from earlier disease detection and tests taking the form of imaging, surgical, and in vitro approaches.

Kalorama’s new report, “Diagnostic Markets for Women’s Health,” contains specific market sizing and forecasts for pregnancy and ovulation, bone density, prenatal screening, ultrasound, mammography, pap smear, colposcopy, HPV, UTI, and other testing.

“Worldwide, women are living longer than men and they are driving healthcare purchases,” said author Joe Constance, “Testing is an increasing part of healthcare and of course that means it’s an increasing part of women’s health.” The women's health area, both therapeutics and diagnostics, has grown considerably as a specialty medical field. Once limited to obstetrics and gynecology, it now includes other fields, such as urology, maternal-fetal medicine, as well as autoimmune disease and cystic fibrosis.

At many clinics and practices focused on women’s health, a range of specialties are offered, which often results in a need for specific types of testing. The Kalorama report also includes the following statistics, underlying the need for detection of key diseases affecting the female population.

More women die from heart disease each year than from breast, ovarian, and uterine cancer combined. Heart disease is the number one cause of mortality in women, killing more women than men each year.

Colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of cancer deaths in women, killing almost 30,000 women each year.

Urinary tract infections are the leading cause of gram-negative bacteremia. In the US, these infections account for approximately 8 million office visits and more than 1 million hospitalizations annually. For women, the lifetime risk of having a UTI is greater than 50%.

More than 13 million babies experience jaundice annually. More than 9 million of them are born in developing countries.

Autoimmune diseases (ADs) are collectively the eighth leading cause of death for women under the age of 65. AD affects 50 million Americans. Women are more susceptible to AD, being affected 75% more often than men. The NIH estimates annual direct health care costs for AD to be around USD 100 billion.

Osteoporosis still poses a significant health risk particularly among women, intensifying with age. Osteoporosis is estimated to affect 200 million women worldwide: about 10% of women aged 60; 20% of women aged 70; 40% of women aged 80; more than 65% of women aged 90. The disease impacts approximately 75 million people in Europe, the US, and Japan.

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Kalorama Information
Diagnostic Markets for Women's Health report