Technical feasibility market study of mobile arm supports for patients with muscle weakness in Spain

Abstract

People with muscle weakness, such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy, can benefit from Mobile Arm Supports (MASs) that assist them to independently perform activities of daily living. Moreover, there is evidence that suggests that the use of MASs can also have a therapeutic effect and delay the functional deterioration of people with muscular dystrophy. While MASs are commercially available and popular in many European countries, they are not known nor commercialized in Spain. With the ultimate goal of making this technology accessible in Spain, this work presents a technical feasibility market study of MASs. This work has been carried out in collaboration with the patient organization Duchenne Parent Project España. Firstly, this work presents a comprehensive inventory of commercially available MASs categorized in terms of price, manufacturers, suppliers, dimensions, weight and other technical properties. We found that there are over 10 companies from Europe, Canada and USA that are manufacturing a total number of 24 devices. Secondly, we present a demographical study of potential users of MASs. We found that in Spain, there are more than 34,700 patients with muscle weakness that could use MASs to improve their upper limb functionality. We also estimated that every year approximately between 26,500 and 53,000 new cases can appear due to accidental diseases that could benefit from MASs, in Spain. Finally, we present the mechanisms of provision, prescription and distribution for this type of assistive technology in Spain and compare it with the Dutch healthcare system. We found that MASs could be introduced to the Spanish market through medical prescription under the subsidy system managed by the Spanish healthcare system. In conclusion, this technical feasibility market study provides key information to start negotiating with the institutions of the Spanish healthcare system in order to make MASs available to patients under the medical prescription. Moreover, this study has identified that future work should focus on developing a benchmarking framework for MASs, and carry out longitudinal studies to quantitatively evaluate the effectiveness of MASs in people with muscular weakness.