The hidden inequality: the disparities in the quality of daily use masks associated with family economic status.

ABSTRACT: Wearing high-quality masks plays a critical role in reducing COVID-19 transmission. However, no study has investigated socioeconomic inequality in the quality of masks. Addressing this gap, this paper explored the relationships between mask's quality and family economic status. The cross-sectional survey was conducted in two Chinese universities by distributing structured questionnaires to assess participants' characteristics including family economic status, and meanwhile collecting their masks to evaluate the quality by measuring particle filtration efficiency. The valid responses were obtained from 912 students with mean age of 19.556 ± 1.453  years and were analyzed by using fractional or binary logistic regression. Three main findings were presented. First, inequality existed in the q

SUBMITTER: Hua L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10313325 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature