Absence of consequential changes in physiological, thermal and subjective responses from wearing a surgical mask

Roberge, Raymond J.; Kim, Jung-Hyun; Benson, Stacey

doi:10.1016/j.resp.2012.01.010

Cited by 166 publications

(234 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…These findings, and recent evidence of physiological tolerance to long-term (12 hours) use of an N95 FFR by nonpregnant women, 27 suggest that N95 FFRs are likely to be safe for use by healthy, pregnant women and should serve as a stimulus for a larger study. Research reporting that the use of medical/surgical masks results in similar physiological effects as N95 FFR 37 implies that these protective facemasks are also safe for use during pregnancy. Pregnant women with concerns about the use of N95 FFRs should consult a licensed medical provider with knowledge of the topic.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

N95 respirator use during advanced pregnancy

Roberge

Kim

Powell

2014

American Journal of Infection Control

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Background To determine the physiological and subjective effects of wearing an N95 filtering facepiece respirator (N95 FFR) in advanced stages of pregnancy. Methods Healthy pregnant women (n = 22) and nonpregnant women (n = 22) had physiological and subjective measurements taken with and without wearing an N95 FFR during exercise and postural sedentary activities over a 1-hour period. Results There were no differences between the pregnant and nonpregnant women with respect to heart rate, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, transcutaneous carbon dioxide level, chest wall temperature, aural temperature, and subjective perceptions of exertion and thermal comfort. No significant effect on fetal heart rate was noted. Conclusions Healthy pregnant women wearing an N95 FFR for 1 hour during exercise and sedentary activities did not exhibit any significant differences in measured physiological and subjective responses compared with nonpregnant women.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

N95 respirator use during advanced pregnancy

Roberge

Kim

Powell

2014

American Journal of Infection Control

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“…In general, the wearing of a respirator is not required for activities at biological safety levels 1 and 2 (BSL-1 and BSL-2), but is required for BSL-3 and BSL-4 work and in work environments where a risk of allergen exposure exists (U.S. HHS, 2009). However, FFP3 respirators are intended to be worn for rather short periods of time, less than 2 hours, because the humidity from exhaled breath and thermal burden softens the skin at the contact points and renders the respirator uncomfortable to wear (Roberge et al, 2011;Roberge et al, 2012). In the case of activities longer than 2 hours, switching to a powered air purifying respirator (PAPR) may provide better aerosol protection and user comfort.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Importance of Fit-Testing Particulate Filtering Facepiece Respirators!

Pauli¹,

Karlen

Summermatter³

2014

Appl Biosaf.

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Filtering facepiece respirators should protect people in healthcare settings and in research and diagnostic laboratories from infection from biological agents or from other hazardous particles. To ensure sufficient personal protection, a properly fitting respirator is imperative. However, data about the usefulness of testing the proper fit of such respirators conflict. Some data from health care settings indicate no difference in performance when the respirators were fit-tested or not fit-tested, but other data suggest better performance when respirators were fit-tested. The goal of this study was to quantitatively test in a laboratory environment the fitting of different filtering facepiece type 3 (FFP3) respirators from various manufacturers and to determine the parameters that are important for a good fit-factor. Another aim was to identify the best-fitting respirator for individuals who wear FFP3 respirators during their daily work in a laboratory/animal room environment. The quantitative fit-testing of respirators was performed using a TSI Portacount ® Pro+ Respirator Fit Tester (TSI Incorporated, Shoreview, MN). Fourteen individuals at two different Swiss institutions were tested with 10 different commercially available FFP3 respirators. Only 2 of 14 individuals passed the fit-test with all 10 respirators, and 2 of 14 individuals passed the fit-test with only three respirators. Performance of the respirators varied greatly for the different individuals, and the findings show that several factors contribute to the fitting of a respirator, such as the type of the respirator and the proper donning of the respirator. Study results confirm that a respirator fit-test is necessary because workers often fail to achieve sufficient protection with their respirators.

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“…Prior research has shown that local alterations of facial, scalp and neck temperatures can impact TMT, presumably due to thermal effects on local dermal blood vessels that share circulation with vessels supplying the tympanic membrane [3–5]. Increased skin temperature, with concomitant warming of local dermal vessels in that area of the face covered by protective facemasks, results from a barrier effect upon local heat release mechanisms (i.e., facial skin heat convection, radiation and sweat evaporation) and from the trapping of warmed exhaled air in the mask deadspace [6–8]. Therefore, it is plausible that the TMT of patients wearing protective facemasks may be elevated over baseline values and thus negatively impact the clinical utility of the measurements.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of wearing an N95 respirator on infrared tympanic membrane temperature measurements

Kim

Roberge

Powell

2014

J Clin Monit Comput

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To determine the impact of wearing an N95 filtering facepiece respirator (N95 FFR) on tympanic temperature measurements. TMT measurements, with and without wearing an N95 filtering facepiece respirator (N95 FFR) were obtained at the onset and termination of 1 h of treadmill exercise in 21 subjects, and at staggered time intervals (0, 20, 40, 60 min) during combined sedentary activity and exercise of another 46 subjects, to determine any effect on TMT. A total of 877 TMT measurements were obtained that demonstrated a mean TMT increase of 0.05 °C in the first study group (p = 0.04) and a 0.19 °C decrease in the second study group (p < 0.001) with the wearing of an N95 FFR, both of which were lower than controls. Wearing an N95 FFR for 1 h, at different levels of activity, results in significantly lower TMT values than not wearing an N95 FFR, but the magnitude of the changes would likely have minimal clinical significance.

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Absence of consequential changes in physiological, thermal and subjective responses from wearing a surgical mask

Cited by 166 publications

References 34 publications

N95 respirator use during advanced pregnancy

N95 respirator use during advanced pregnancy

The Importance of Fit-Testing Particulate Filtering Facepiece Respirators!

Effect of wearing an N95 respirator on infrared tympanic membrane temperature measurements

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