How is Rising Cases of Diabetic Foot Ulcers Driving Wound Dressing Market?

While it has become fairly easy to lead a normal life for diabetic patients, developing a diabetic foot ulcer still remains a major complication. The wound affects about 15% of the people suffering from diabetes and 6% of these are hospitalized because of infection or some other complication.

Traditional and advanced are the two types of wound dressing products, between which the demand for advanced wound dressing products was higher in the past. This can be ascribed to the fact that these products have better efficacy as compared to traditional wound dressing products, such as sponge, bandage, abdominal pad in wound healing, and gauze. Among the different types of advanced wound dressing products, such as superabsorbent, wound contact layers, foams, films, hydrocolloids, hydrofiber, alginates, collagen, and hydrogels, the adoption of superabsorbent wound dressings is expected to grow in the near future, due to their superior healing properties.

Other than this, the demand for foam dressings was the highest in the past, owing to their advantages such as provision of barrier against bacteria, provision of warm and moist environment ideal for healing, suitability for wounds with hypergranulation, ability to be utilized in compression therapy, and ease of application and removal. Surgical wounds, ulcers, including venous, pressure, and diabetic foot ulcers, and burns are the major application areas of wound dressings. The largest demand for these products was created for surgical wounds in the past, which can be ascribed to the rising number of ambulatory surgical centers and surging volume of surgeries performed across the globe.  

Geographically, North America has been the largest wound dressing market, owing to the growing number of road accidents, surging geriatric population, rising burn cases, and increasing number of diabetes and obesity cases in the region. Apart from this continent, the demand for different wound dressing products is expected to rise considerably in Asia-Pacific during the forecast period. This is because of the growing number road traffic cases, rising ageing population, and surging prevalence of diabetes in the region.

In conclusion, the demand for wound dressing products is being driven by the rising prevalence of diabetes and diabetic foot ulcers around the globe.