The vast majority of people in the UAE intend to adopt more wearable health technology or applications in the next 12 months, according to a new survey from AppDynamics, a part of Cisco.
The survey found that 88 percent of respondents in the Gulf country intend to use medical wearables, like fitbits or smartwatches, in the next year. That’s up from 47 percent of respondents who say they already use some kind of fitness or health device.
Recent data showed that the global wearable healthcare market is projected to reach $30.1 billion by 2026 from $16.2 billion in 2021. Furthermore, 320 million consumer medical wearables will ship globally in 2022, according to Deloitte.
Eighty-five percent of people globally believe wearable technology now has the potential to positively transform both their own personal health and public health services as a whole, according to AppDynamics’ survey. In the UAE, that number shoots up to 95 percent. Globally, 37 percent of people say that they are already using at least one wearable technology device and as many as 73 percent plans to increase their use of wearable technologies and associated applications over the next 12 months.
Most devices are primarily data collection vehicles that feed vital statistics to a website or application. There are over 350,000 digital health applications currently available to consumers, with 47 percent focused on managing specific health conditions. This number is expected to increase even further during 2022.
In the UAE, around 90 percent of respondents said they want access to heart rate, blood pressure, heart rhythms, physical activity and respiratory rate from a watch or other wearable gadget. Further, UAE respondents overwhelmingly said they believe wearable technology has the potential to transform both personal and public health. Ninety-five percent in the UAE agree with the notion, compared to 85 percent globally.
The UAE outpaced the global average by around 10 percentage points on what health benefits they believe consumers most want from a device, including early warning signs of illness, improving fitness goals, manage chronic health conditions, supporting healthy eating, and identifying the spread of infectious diseases.
Two of the only categories where the UAE scored lower than the global average was willingness to continue use or try another wearable after a bad experience. Globally, 75 percent said a bad digital experience may stop them using a specific wearable device or application. Only 65 percent of respondents in the UAE said the same. Globally, 56 percent said a bad digital experience may put them off trying other health or wellbeing wearables or applications, with 54 percent in the Gulf country saying the same.
AppDynamics conducted their survey in the UK, France, Germany, Singapore, the UAE, Australia, India, the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Colombia.
