ArticleJournal of the American College of Emergency Physicians open2021
N95 respirator and surgical mask effectiveness against respiratory viral illnesses in the healthcare setting: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Article in Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians open, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 17 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 37 citations in OpenAlex.
- Guideline
- A systematic review of fit improvement strategies for respirators: lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic.BMC public health · 2025Pooled it
- Masking strategy to protect healthcare workers from COVID-19: An umbrella meta-analysis.Infection, disease & health · 2023Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Personal protective effect of wearing surgical face masks in public spaces on self-reported respiratory symptoms in adults: pragmatic randomised superiority trial.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2024Trial
- Assessment of KN95 Mask Filtering Degradation and Breathing Detection: A Pilot Study.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Review
- Addressing the Dual Threat of Dengue and Influenza in Bangladesh: A Perspective on the Prevention and Preparedness Strategies.Health science reports · 2025Article
- Healthcare Provider N95 Respirator Contamination Worn Behind Face Shields With SARS-CoV-2 During Routine Clinical Care of Patients With COVID-19.Open forum infectious diseases · 2024Article
- Aerosol-generating procedures and associated control/mitigation measures: Position paper from the Canadian Dental Hygienists Association and the American Dental Hygienists' Association.Canadian journal of dental hygiene : CJDH = Journal canadien de l'hygiene dentaire : JCHD · 2024Review
- Comments on Collins et al "N95 respirator and surgical mask effectiveness against respiratory viral illnesses in the healthcare setting: A systematic review and meta-analysis".Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians open · 2023Article
- Personal protective measures and settings on the risk of SARS-COV-2 community transmission: a case-control study.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Vaccine or Garlic-Is It a Choice? Awareness of Medical Personnel on Prevention of Influenza Infections.Vaccines · 2022Article
- Article
- How the COVID-19 Pandemic Affects Risk Awareness in Dentists: A Scoping Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- N95 respirator and surgical mask effectiveness against respiratory viral illnesses in the healthcare setting: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians open · 2021Article
- Mask effectiveness against viral illnesses in health care professionals.Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians open · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
7 authors at 6 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo examine the results, level of evidence, and methodologic quality of original studies regarding surgical mask effectiveness in minimizing viral respiratory illness transmission, and, in particular, the performance of the N95 respirator versus surgical mask.
methodsMeta-analysis was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines with use of PubMed, MEDLINE, and the Cochrane Library databases.
resultsEight studies (9164 participants) were included after screening 153 articles. Analyses showed statistically significant differences between N95 respirator versus surgical mask use to prevent influenza-like-illness (risk ratio [RR] = 0.81, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.68-0.94,
conclusionsN95 respirator use was associated with fewer viral infectious episodes for healthcare workers compared with surgical masks. The N95 respirator was most effective in reducing the risk of a viral infection in the hospital setting from the SARS-CoV 1 and 2 viruses compared to the other viruses included in this investigation. Methodologic quality, risk of biases, and small number of original studies indicate the necessity for further research to be performed, especially in front-line healthcare delivery settings.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.