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Effects of wearing facemasks on the sensation of exertional dyspnea and exercise capacity in healthy subjects

Due to the currently ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), it is strongly recommended to wear facemasks to minimize transmission risk. Wearing a facemask may have the potential to increase dyspnea and worsen cardiopulmonary parameters during exercise; however, research-based evide...

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Autores principales: Fukushi, Isato, Nakamura, Masatoshi, Kuwana, Shun-ichi
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8483295/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34591935
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258104
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author Fukushi, Isato
Nakamura, Masatoshi
Kuwana, Shun-ichi
author_facet Fukushi, Isato
Nakamura, Masatoshi
Kuwana, Shun-ichi
author_sort Fukushi, Isato
collection PubMed
description Due to the currently ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), it is strongly recommended to wear facemasks to minimize transmission risk. Wearing a facemask may have the potential to increase dyspnea and worsen cardiopulmonary parameters during exercise; however, research-based evidence is lacking. We investigated the hypothesis that wearing facemasks affects the sensation of dyspnea, pulse rate, and percutaneous arterial oxygen saturation during exercise. Healthy adults (15 men, 9 women) underwent a progressive treadmill test under 3 conditions in randomized order: wearing a surgical facemask, cloth facemask, or no facemask. Experiment was carried out once daily under each condition, for a total of 3 days. Each subject first sat on a chair for 30 minutes, then walked on a treadmill according to a Bruce protocol that was modified by us. The experiment was discontinued when the subject’s pulse rate exceeded 174 beats/min. After discontinuation, the subject immediately sat on a chair and was allowed to rest for 10 minutes. Subjects were required to rate their levels of dyspnea perception on a numerical scale. Pulse rate and percutaneous arterial oxygen saturation were continuously monitored with a pulse oximeter. These parameters were recorded in each trial every 3 minutes after the start of the exercise; the point of discontinuation; and 5 and 10 minutes after discontinuation. The following findings were obtained. Wearing a facemask does not worsen dyspnea during light to moderate exercise but worsens dyspnea during vigorous exercise. Wearing a cloth facemask increases dyspnea more than wearing a surgical facemask during exercise and increases pulse rate during vigorous exercise, but it does not increase pulse rate during less vigorous exercise. Wearing a surgical facemask does not increase pulse rate at any load level. Lastly, wearing a facemask does not affect percutaneous arterial oxygen saturation during exercise at any load level regardless of facemask type.
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spelling pubmed-84832952021-10-01 Effects of wearing facemasks on the sensation of exertional dyspnea and exercise capacity in healthy subjects Fukushi, Isato Nakamura, Masatoshi Kuwana, Shun-ichi PLoS One Research Article Due to the currently ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), it is strongly recommended to wear facemasks to minimize transmission risk. Wearing a facemask may have the potential to increase dyspnea and worsen cardiopulmonary parameters during exercise; however, research-based evidence is lacking. We investigated the hypothesis that wearing facemasks affects the sensation of dyspnea, pulse rate, and percutaneous arterial oxygen saturation during exercise. Healthy adults (15 men, 9 women) underwent a progressive treadmill test under 3 conditions in randomized order: wearing a surgical facemask, cloth facemask, or no facemask. Experiment was carried out once daily under each condition, for a total of 3 days. Each subject first sat on a chair for 30 minutes, then walked on a treadmill according to a Bruce protocol that was modified by us. The experiment was discontinued when the subject’s pulse rate exceeded 174 beats/min. After discontinuation, the subject immediately sat on a chair and was allowed to rest for 10 minutes. Subjects were required to rate their levels of dyspnea perception on a numerical scale. Pulse rate and percutaneous arterial oxygen saturation were continuously monitored with a pulse oximeter. These parameters were recorded in each trial every 3 minutes after the start of the exercise; the point of discontinuation; and 5 and 10 minutes after discontinuation. The following findings were obtained. Wearing a facemask does not worsen dyspnea during light to moderate exercise but worsens dyspnea during vigorous exercise. Wearing a cloth facemask increases dyspnea more than wearing a surgical facemask during exercise and increases pulse rate during vigorous exercise, but it does not increase pulse rate during less vigorous exercise. Wearing a surgical facemask does not increase pulse rate at any load level. Lastly, wearing a facemask does not affect percutaneous arterial oxygen saturation during exercise at any load level regardless of facemask type. Public Library of Science 2021-09-30 /pmc/articles/PMC8483295/ /pubmed/34591935 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258104 Text en © 2021 Fukushi et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Fukushi, Isato
Nakamura, Masatoshi
Kuwana, Shun-ichi
Effects of wearing facemasks on the sensation of exertional dyspnea and exercise capacity in healthy subjects
title Effects of wearing facemasks on the sensation of exertional dyspnea and exercise capacity in healthy subjects
title_full Effects of wearing facemasks on the sensation of exertional dyspnea and exercise capacity in healthy subjects
title_fullStr Effects of wearing facemasks on the sensation of exertional dyspnea and exercise capacity in healthy subjects
title_full_unstemmed Effects of wearing facemasks on the sensation of exertional dyspnea and exercise capacity in healthy subjects
title_short Effects of wearing facemasks on the sensation of exertional dyspnea and exercise capacity in healthy subjects
title_sort effects of wearing facemasks on the sensation of exertional dyspnea and exercise capacity in healthy subjects
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8483295/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34591935
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258104
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