Yang Shaozhong, Fang Chuanyu, Liu Xin, Liu Yu, Huang Shanshan, Wang Rui, Qi Feng
Department of Anesthesiology, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan, China.
Front Med (Lausanne). 2022 Apr 14;9:844710. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2022.844710. eCollection 2022.
Surgical masks (SMs) protect medical staff and reduce surgical site infections. Extended SM use may reduce oxygen concentrations in circulation, causing hypoxia, headache, and fatigue. However, no research has examined the effects of wearing SMs on oxygenation and physical discomfort of anesthesiologists.
An electronic questionnaire was established and administered through WeChat, and a cross-sectional survey was conducted to determine SM use duration and related discomfort of operating room medical staff. Then, operating room anesthesiologists were enrolled in a single-arm study. Peripheral blood oxygen saturation (SpO), heart rate, and respiratory rate were determined at different times before and after SM use. Shortness of breath, dizziness, and headache were subjectively assessed based on the visual analog scale (VAS) scores.
In total, 485 operating room medical staff completed the electronic questionnaire; 70.5% of them did not change SMs until after work, and 63.9% wore SMs continuously for more than 4 h. The proportion of anesthesiologists was the highest. After wearing masks for 4 h, the shortness of breath, fatigue, and dizziness/headache rates were 42.1, 34.6, and 30.9%, respectively. Compared with other medical staff, the proportion of subjective discomfort of anesthesiologists increased significantly with prolonged SM use from 1 to 4 h. Thirty-five anesthesiologists completed the study. There was no difference in anesthesiologist SpO, heart rate, or respiratory rate within 2 h of wearing SMs. After more than 2 h, the variation appears to be statistically rather than clinically significant-SpO decreased (98.0 [1.0] vs. 97.0 [1.0] < 0.05), respiratory rate increased (16.0 [3.0] vs. 17.0 [2.0] < 0.01), and heart rate remained unchanged. As mask use duration increased, the VAS scores of shortness of breath, dizziness, and headache gradually increased.
In healthy anesthesiologists, wearing SMs for more than 2 h can significantly decrease SpO and increase respiratory rates without affecting heart rates.
外科口罩（SMs）可保护医护人员并减少手术部位感染。长时间使用外科口罩可能会降低循环中的氧气浓度，导致缺氧、头痛和疲劳。然而，尚无研究探讨佩戴外科口罩对麻醉医生氧合和身体不适的影响。
通过微信建立并发放电子问卷，进行横断面调查以确定手术室医护人员使用外科口罩的时长及相关不适情况。然后，将手术室麻醉医生纳入单臂研究。在佩戴外科口罩前后的不同时间测定外周血氧饱和度（SpO）、心率和呼吸频率。根据视觉模拟量表（VAS）评分对呼吸急促、头晕和头痛进行主观评估。
共有485名手术室医护人员完成了电子问卷；其中70.5%的人直到下班后才更换外科口罩，63.9%的人连续佩戴外科口罩超过4小时。麻醉医生的比例最高。佩戴口罩4小时后，呼吸急促、疲劳和头晕/头痛的发生率分别为42.1%、34.6%和30.9%。与其他医护人员相比，随着外科口罩使用时间从1小时延长至4小时，麻醉医生主观不适的比例显著增加。35名麻醉医生完成了研究。佩戴外科口罩2小时内，麻醉医生的SpO、心率或呼吸频率无差异。超过2小时后，变化似乎具有统计学意义而非临床意义——SpO降低（98.0 [1.0] 对 97.0 [1.0] <0.05），呼吸频率增加（16.0 [3.0] 对 17.0 [2.0] <0.01），心率保持不变。随着口罩使用时间的增加，呼吸急促、头晕和头痛的VAS评分逐渐升高。
在健康的麻醉医生中，佩戴外科口罩超过2小时可显著降低SpO并增加呼吸频率，而不影响心率。
