Data on cases of diabetic macular edema (DME) in the seven major markets revealed that the US has the highest diagnosises, with forecasted cases expected to rise to 0.5 million by 2031.
Projections in GlobalData’s latest report showed that, among the seven major countries (US, Germany, Japan, UK, Spain, Italy, France), cases were said to increase from 1.7 million in 2021 to 2 million in 2031, with an annual growth rate of 1.66%.
Predictions for 2031 put Germany and UK as the next highest after the US, whereas France will have the lowest number at nearly 0.17 million cases.
Bharti Prabhakar, MPH, associate project manager at GlobalData, commented: ‘Diabetes and consequently DME is more common in older age groups, which accounts for most of the increased prevalence in later decades. Given the high utilisation of healthcare resources and costs accrued by DME, the condition poses a significant burden on the healthcare system.
‘The functional impairment caused by DME increases with the severity of the condition, with blindness being the worst manifestation. The scarcity of DME epidemiological data, coupled with the alarming rise in the global diabetes population, suggests the need for coordinated efforts for consistent data capture to fully understand the epidemiology, as well as the economic and human burden of DME.’