Use of surgical face masks to reduce the incidence of the common cold among health care workers in Japan: A randomized controlled trial

Jacobs, Joshua L.; Ohde, Sachiko; Takahashi, Osamu; Tokuda, Yasuharu; Omata, Fumio; Fukui, Tsuguya

doi:10.1016/j.ajic.2008.11.002

Cited by 70 publications

(84 citation statements)

References 6 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…People living with children were at significantly increased risk, and those living with three or more children had a higher risk for infection than those with one or two. This is in line with the findings of another of the papers cited in the review, a randomized controlled trial of mask use in HCWs, where living with children was the only significant risk factor for reported cold symptoms [7].…”

supporting

confidence: 86%

Influence of household contacts on the effectiveness of face masks for preventing influenza in a healthcare setting: a comment on Cowling et al. (2010)

Williams

Buchholz

2010

Epidemiol. Infect.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

supporting

confidence: 86%

Influence of household contacts on the effectiveness of face masks for preventing influenza in a healthcare setting: a comment on Cowling et al. (2010)

Williams

Buchholz

2010

Epidemiol. Infect.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…We identified only four RCTs of the clinical efficacy of facemasks or respirators in healthcare workers, which studied a diverse range of interventions and outcomes ( fig 1). [7][8][9][10] The updated 2014 WHO guidelines on personal protective equipment (PPE) cite two of these four trials, 44 but exclude the larger two. 9 10 The first trial, which was carried out in healthcare workers in Japan, randomised 32 workers to a medical mask group or a control arm.…”

Section: Stat E O F T H E a Rt R Ev I E Wmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The threat of pandemic A/H5N1 influenza and resultant pandemic planning drove the first RCTs of facemasks in various settings. [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] The aim of this review is to inform policy makers and stakeholders by examining and summarising the available evidence related to the efficacy of facemasks and respirators, current practice, and guidelines, as well as highlighting the gaps in evidence.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Facemasks for the prevention of infection in healthcare and community settings

MacIntyre

Chughtai

2015

BMJ

281

304

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Facemasks are recommended for diseases transmitted through droplets and respirators for respiratory aerosols, yet recommendations and terminology vary between guidelines. The concepts of droplet and airborne transmission that are entrenched in clinical practice have recently been shown to be more complex than previously thought. Several randomised clinical trials of facemasks have been conducted in community and healthcare settings, using widely varying interventions, including mixed interventions (such as masks and handwashing), and diverse outcomes. Of the nine trials of facemasks identified in community settings, in all but one, facemasks were used for respiratory protection of well people. They found that facemasks and facemasks plus hand hygiene may prevent infection in community settings, subject to early use and compliance. Two trials in healthcare workers favoured respirators for clinical respiratory illness. The use of reusable cloth masks is widespread globally, particularly in Asia, which is an important region for emerging infections, but there is no clinical research to inform their use and most policies offer no guidance on them. Health economic analyses of facemasks are scarce and the few published cost effectiveness models do not use clinical efficacy data. The lack of research on facemasks and respirators is reflected in varied and sometimes conflicting policies and guidelines. Further research should focus on examining the efficacy of facemasks against specific infectious threats such as influenza and tuberculosis, assessing the efficacy of cloth masks, investigating common practices such as reuse of masks, assessing compliance, filling in policy gaps, and obtaining cost effectiveness data using clinical efficacy estimates.

show abstract

“…Even though the materials, methods and mask designs may have changed since then, later studies on N95 masks still show variable effectiveness against viral and bacteria-sized particles (Qian et al 1998, Lee et al 2008, Johnson et al 2009). Second, the actual act of wearing masks and keeping them on in a proper position is very difficult, as multiple studies on healthcare workers (who wear masks to protect themselves from patients and patients from themselves) have shown (CDC 2009;Jacobs et al 2009, Seale et al 2009, Gershon et al 2009). Even patients (perhaps not surprisingly when they are sick) are poor at maintaining proper and consistent mask use in an effort to contain their infection and protect others (Longtin et al 2009).…”

Section: Mitigating Transmissionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Airborne transmission of disease in hospitals

Eames

Tang

et al. 2009

J. R. Soc. Interface.

173

126

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Hospital-acquired infection (HAI) is an important public health issue with unacceptable levels of morbidity and mortality, over the last 5 years. Disease can be transmitted by air (over large distances), by direct/indirect contact or a combination of both routes. While contact transmission of disease forms the majority of HAI cases, transmission through the air is harder to control, but one where the engineering sciences can play an important role in limiting the spread. This forms the focus of this themed volume.In this paper, we describe the current hospital environment and review the contributions from microbiologists, mechanical and civil engineers, and mathematicians to this themed volume on the airborne transmission of infection in hospitals. The review also points out some of the outstanding scientific questions and possible approaches to mitigating transmission.

show abstract

Use of surgical face masks to reduce the incidence of the common cold among health care workers in Japan: A randomized controlled trial

Cited by 70 publications

References 6 publications

Influence of household contacts on the effectiveness of face masks for preventing influenza in a healthcare setting: a comment on Cowling et al. (2010)

Influence of household contacts on the effectiveness of face masks for preventing influenza in a healthcare setting: a comment on Cowling et al. (2010)

Facemasks for the prevention of infection in healthcare and community settings

Airborne transmission of disease in hospitals

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About