Economic Costs and Absorbent Products:

• The 1995 societal cost of incontinence for individuals 65 years of age and older was $26.3 billion, or $3565 per individual with urinary incontinence. Most of the total cost is associated with direct treatment, such as the cost of diagnostic testing and medication. 21
• The cost of OAB is 12.6 billion in year 2000 dollars. $9.1 and $3.5 billion, respectively, was incurred by community and institutional residents. 22
• Nearly half of the costs of UI are for medical services paid by Medicare. 23
• The cost of caring for UI and OAB in nursing facility patients is an estimated $5.3 billion. 21

Key statistics related to adult incontinence and underpads such as demographics, volume per unit, supply/demand, major national brands & private label, market share national brands & private label, market trends & estimates can be found in a report available for purchase and authored by Ian Butler by contacting the Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry (INDA) at:

   INDA
   PO BOX 1288
   Cary, NC 27512-1288
   Ph: (919) 233-1210
   Fax: (919) 233-1282
   www.inda.org

• Kimberly Clark was quoted in a Nonwovens Industry (March 2001) article projecting that in the year 2005, the U. S. retail and institutional sales of the manufacturer would reach $2.1 billion and global sales would hit $5.8 billion. Kimberly Clark is believed to have approximately half of the market (in 2001, its share of the adult incontinence market was 52.4%).
• The same 2001 Kimberly Clark article stated that the U.S. adult incontinence retail/home care market grew 3.1% to reach $594 million in 2000, according to Information Resources Inc. of Chicago. This figure does not reflect institutional sales to hospitals and nursing homes. Nearly a decade earlier, Theta Corporation reported that the retail and home care market was $275 million, including briefs, underpads, inserts/liners, and other undergarments for absorption. In that year, the institutional sector was recorded at $465 million, or a total market size in the U. S. of $740 million. This represents an 8.9% average annual increase in the retail market between 1991 and 2000. Applying the same rate to the following six years between 2000 and 2006 would put today's U.S. retail/home care market at about $991 million.
• Since their introduction in late 2001, POISE pantiliners have come to represent 7% of all incontinence pads and liners, according to K-C. This is entirely retail and represents essentially a new product category, as more than 60% of POISE pantiliner users are new to the category of adult absorbent products. This supports a much faster rate of growth in home care products over institutional as well.
• The Founder and Executive Publisher, Al Neuharth, of USA Today, who in a September 20-22,2002 editorial revealed his own incontinence and use of absorbent products. In his essay, he quoted an estimated 1.69 billion adult diapers sold in that year in this country, compared to just 700 million ten years earlier, and only 392 some 20 years prior.
• When NAFC surveyed our consumer subscribers over 7 years ago, about 60% (59.9%) said that they used some type of disposable liner or pad or underwear. It is noteworthy that at that time 26.8% of all women with incontinence said they used sanitary napkins and 17.4% of all women used tissues, paper towels, or toilet paper in lieu of any specially designed absorbent product. Similarly, 26.5% of all men who responded said they used reusable pads, diapers, or other reusable briefs. Again, in the same survey, the average respondent claimed to have spent $946 managing incontinence (including absorbent products, inserts and pessaries) in the past year, although 57.0% indicated they had spent less than $500 a year. Those are 1999 numbers.