SynthesisFrontiers in public health2022
Associations Between Wearing Masks and Respiratory Viral Infections: A Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review.
Synthesis in Frontiers in public health, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 2 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
12 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Global, regional, and national incidence and mortality burden of non-COVID-19 lower respiratory infections and aetiologies, 1990-2021: a systematic analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021.The Lancet. Infectious diseases · 2024Pooled it
- Masking strategy to protect healthcare workers from COVID-19: An umbrella meta-analysis.Infection, disease & health · 2023Pooled it
- Impacts of relaxed mask policies on COVID-19 epidemics: a modeling study in South Korea.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Synthesis challenges in complex evidence: A critical analysis of systematic reviews of face mask efficacy.Research synthesis methods · 2026Article
- Global burden of bacterial skin diseases from 1990 to 2045: an analysis based on global burden disease data.Archives of dermatological research · 2025Article
- Infection Risk Prediction in Healthcare Settings: Lessons from COVID-19 Contact Tracing.Infectious diseases & clinical microbiology · 2024Article
- Identifying the interplay between protective measures and settings on the SARS-CoV-2 transmission using a Bayesian network.PloS one · 2024Article
- Introduction of mandatory masking in health care and community: experience from Jena, Germany.Infection · 2023Article
- Changes in the national prevalence of asthma and coronavirus disease 2019 fatality: A population-based cross-sectional study.Annals of allergy, asthma & immunology : official publication of the American College of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology · 2023Article
- Intensive care unit admissions with and without COVID-19 in Finland from 2017 to 2021: a retrospective register-based study.BMC anesthesiology · 2023Article
- Disappearance and Re-Emergence of Influenza during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Association with Infection Control Measures.Viruses · 2023Article
- Personal protective measures and settings on the risk of SARS-COV-2 community transmission: a case-control study.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Respiratory viral infections (RVIs) are a major health concern, and some previous studies have shown that wearing masks was effective in preventing RVIs, while others failed to show such effect. Therefore, a systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of wearing masks. Methods: PubMed, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, EMBASE, MEDLINE, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and Chinese Scientific Journal Database (VIP database) were searched for studies evaluating the effectiveness of wearing masks. The risk ratio (RR) was used to measure the effectiveness of wearing masks in preventing RVIs for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and cohort studies, and the odds ratio (OR) was used for case-control studies. Forest plots were used to visually assess pooled estimates and corresponding 95% CIs. The Results: Thirty-one studies (13,329 participants) were eligible for meta-analyses. Overall, the results showed that wearing masks was effective in preventing RVIs. The sensitivity analysis showed that the results of those meta-analyses were robust and reliable. There was no significant publication bias in meta-analysis of case-control studies and most subgroup analyses. Conclusions: Wearing masks might be effective in preventing RVIs. To reduce their RVI risk, people should wear masks when they go out in public. Systematic Review Registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/, identifier: CRD42021296092.
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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.