ArticleCureus2024
Effects of N95 Masks Versus Surgical/Loop Masks on Arterial Blood Gases and Adverse Symptoms in Operating Room Staff During Prolonged Usage: A Pilot Study.
Article in Cureus, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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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.
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionThe COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a catastrophic impact on the global population. N95 masks are commonly used as filtering facepiece respirators for healthcare workers. At the end of long shifts, they have reported headaches, dizziness, fatigue, exhaustion, and physical and mental discomfort. There is a lack of data on the effects of N95 masks on blood gases in healthcare workers who wear masks for longer durations. We analyzed and compared the effects of continuously wearing N95 versus loop/surgical masks on various symptomology parameters and arterial blood gases for longer durations.
methodsThis was a non-blinded, pilot, observational study at a single academic institution. Utilizing a survey, we collected information on operating room staff volunteers (demographics, mask use, and symptoms) and measured transcutaneous partial pressure carbon dioxide (tcPCO
resultsThirty-nine subjects enrolled in the study (N95 mask = 13, loop/surgical mask = 26). Overall, 69.2% of the subjects continuously wore a mask for five or more hours on their shift. There was a statistical difference with reported fatigue with exclusively wearing an N95 mask versus a loop/surgical mask (p=0.017). None of the other parameters showed a statistical difference between groups. The tcPCO
conclusionIndividuals exclusively wearing an N95 mask reported a statistically greater number of complaints of fatigue after their shift. No statistical differences were observed in arterial blood gas parameters measured for SpO
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