Effects of Prolonged Use of Facemask on Healthcare Workers in Tertiary Care Hospital During COVID-19 Pandemic.

September 15, 2021

Purushothaman PK, Priyangha E, Vaidhyswaran R.

Indian Journal of Otolaryngology and Head & Neck Surgery

A cross-sectional study was conducted from 07/20/2020 to 07/26/2020 on 250 health workers, of whom 71.6% (176) were women and 28.4% (71) men. All participants wore surgical masks and N95 respirators for a minimum of 4 hours per day. Participants were given a questionnaire including generalized nasal discomfort, nasal sequelae, nasal itching, burning sensation in the nose, cracks inside the nose, crusting, nose pain, altered sense of smell, blood on tissue paper, nasal congestion, acne, skin changes such as rashes or redness on the face, ear pain, dry mouth, halitosis, sore throat, shortness of breath on exertion, dry eyes, and excessive sweating from the mouth. The inclusion criteria were health workers aged 18 to 45 years and those who were willing to participate in the study, non-health workers and people with comorbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, epilepsy, heart disease, asthma and other respiratory diseases were excluded. 48.8% experienced generalized nasal discomfort, 30.3% dry nose, 26.1% burning sensation in the nose, around 52.0% developed itchy nose, 56.0% acne on the face, 39.0% experienced redness on the face and 67.6% developed excessive sweating around the face.

Purushothaman PK, Priyangha E, Vaidhyswaran R. Effects of Prolonged Use of Facemask on Healthcare Workers in Tertiary Care Hospital During COVID-19 Pandemic. Indian J Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2021; 73: 59–65.

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