Effects of Surgical Masks on Cardiopulmonary Function in Healthy Subjects
Summary
We study the effect of surgical masks on cardiopulmonary function based on a cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET). This study shows that surgical masks reduce cardiopulmonary exercise capacity and ventilation in healthy young subjects and wearing masks might affect aerobic exercise capacity more in female subjects than in male subjects.
Abstract
We study the effect of surgical masks on cardiopulmonary function based on a cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET). This study shows that surgical masks reduce cardiopulmonary exercise capacity and ventilation in healthy young subjects and wearing masks might affect aerobic exercise capacity more in female subjects than in male subjects.
Introduction
Wearing a face mask in public areas might impede the spread of an infectious disease by preventing both the inhalation of infectious droplets and their subsequent exhalation and dissemination1. Although the effect of reducing the risk of transmission of respiratory viruses remains controversial, wearing masks remains one of the major ways people in the community have chosen to prevent the spread of droplets among individuals in daily life2,3,4.
Different types of masks have different effects on increasing expiratory resistance and inspiratory resistance5. Meanwhile, during a respiratory disease pandemic, people (including healthy people and patients with cardiopulmonary diseases) might need to wear masks for a long time to perform daily activities. However, there are few studies on the effect of wearing a mask on cardiopulmonary function.
Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) is an important means of cardiovascular rehabilitation risk assessment by reflecting various parameters of the body's cardiopulmonary function during exercise with increasing load and is considered to be the gold standard for cardiopulmonary reserve testing2. We use CPET under different conditions (mask-on and mask-off) to study the changes in cardiopulmonary function parameters of healthy young subjects, to evaluate the interference of masks objectively and quantitatively on cardiorespiratory reserve and exercise endurance from a novel methodological perspective to guide the application of masks in particular respiratory infectious disease pandemic. Although FFP2/N95 has been suggested to be more efficacious than surgical masks at reducing exposure to viral infections, medical-surgical masks are more convenient and common to obtain and use than FFP2/N95 face masks. Thus, this study focuses only on the effects of medical surgical masks on cardiopulmonary function.
Protocol
Representative Results
Discussion
CPET provides valuable insights into the comprehensive functions of cardiovascular, ventilation, and skeletal muscle systems13. We proposed a CPET protocol on mask-on and mask-off conditions to explore the effect of the surgical mask on the cardiopulmonary function in healthy young subjects.
The design of this protocol was based on three main points. First, we recruited young healthy college students as the subjects for the study due to relatively high intensityof CPET …
Divulgations
The authors have nothing to disclose.
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by National Natural Science Foundation for Young Scientists of China (No.81902281); General Guidance Project of Guangzhou Health and Family Planning Commission (No.20191A0011091 and 20201A011108), Guangdong Provincial Department of Education (No. 2019KQNCX119) and Guangzhou Key Laboratory Fund (No.201905010004). This study also thanks Lixin Zhang, Peilin Ruan, Kaihang Ji, and Gulifeiya Tuerxun from Guangzhou Medical University for data collection.
Materials
| Cardiopulmonary test system | COSMED Srl – Italy | K4b2 | Pulmonary Function Equipment |
| Cycle for CPET | COSMED Srl – Italy | ergoline 100P | cycle ergometer 100 P w/BP |
| Eectrocardiograph | COSMED Srl – Italy | Quark T12x | 12-Channel ECG Street Test Unit |
| Mask | COSMED Srl – Italy | Small,Medium,Large | V2 Mask |
| Software | COSMED Srl – Italy | PFT SUITE | PC Software |
| Surgical masks |
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