The role of facial contact in infection control: Renewed import in the age of coronavirus

Abstract

Highlights Men show higher rates of facial contact than women Rates of facial contact can vary in different social situations Fatigue and distraction increase rates of facial contact and subsequent infection risk

An observational study of hand‐to‐face contact via videotaping of Korean older people in daily life settings

“…The frequency and duration of membrane HFC at each site (eyes, nose and mouth) found in the present study were different from the findings of previous studies (Kwok et al, 2015; Oh et al, 2017; Christensen et al, 2020). Hand‐to‐mouth contact has been shown to have the highest frequency in previous studies involving adults (Ng et al, 2016; Oh et al, 2017).…”

“…To the authors’ knowledge, few studies have examined HFC among older patients (over 65 years); therefore, the results of the present study were compared to results of studies of other adults. The HFC frequency (43.3/2 hrs) of older people in this study was similar to that found in a study of medical students (23 times/hr; Kwok et al, 2015) and in a study of adults (22/hr; Christensen et al, 2020), while it was higher than that found by another study of students (15.7/hr; Nicas & Best, 2008), by a study of research workers (0.2–16.0 /hr; Johnston et al, 2014) and by a study of adults (14.6/hr; Wilson et al, 2021). The HFC frequency found in the present study was considered sufficient to predict respiratory disease (>15.7/hr; Nicas & Best, 2008), that is the HFC frequency of the older people in this study was high enough to transmit respiratory diseases.…”

“…A previous study of workers (Ng et al, 2016) revealed that hand‐to‐mouth contact was more frequent in smokers and nail biters. Using an adult sample, Christensen et al, (2020) found that fatigue and distraction increased the frequency of HFC. Further evaluation is needed to analyse the factors involved in the differences shown in the present study.…”

“…Among medical students, HFC frequency has been reported at 23 times per hour; 44% (1024/2346) of the contacts involved a mucous membrane, with the mouth being the most frequently touched (Kwok et al, 2015). Another study reported 22 contacts per hour and that the mouth was the most frequently contacted area (Christensen et al, 2020). Nicas and Best (2008) found a total contact rate per hour of 15.7, which was reported as sufficient to predict respiratory diseases.…”

“…To the best of the authors’ knowledge, studies of HFC among older people have been few, and most of these types of studies have been conducted on adults (Kwok et al, 2015; Christensen et al, 2020; Lewis, 2021) or children (Wilson et al, 2021). Therefore, the characteristics of the HFC of older people should be first measured to develop preventive methods to reduce such risk behaviour in older people.…”