Capillary carbon dioxide tension increases in hospital staff wearing filtering facepiece masks: a prospective crossover study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed worldwide hygiene practices. In particular, the use of filtering face piece (FFP) masks markedly increased. Concerns have been raised regarding possible negative respiratory effects of wearing FFP masks. The aim of this study was to investigate gas exchange and subjective breathing effort in hospital personnel wearing FFP2 or FFP3 masks.

Methods

In this prospective, single-centre, crossover study, 200 hospital workers were assigned to alternately wear FFP2 or FFP3 masks for 1 h during routine activities. Capillary blood gas analysis was performed to evaluate gas exchange while wearing the FFP masks. The primary end-point was the change in capillary partial pressure of carbon dioxide (P_cCO2). In additio

SUBMITTER: Roeder G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10316034 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature