Cornea Research Chair, Department of Optometry, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
PLoS One. 2022 Nov 16;17(11):e0277803. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0277803. eCollection 2022.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, wearing a face mask has become an essential measure to reduce the rate of virus spreading. The aim of the study was to assess the effect of wearing a surgical face mask for a short period on the tear film parameters in subjects with a high body mass index (BMI).
Twenty-five females with a high BMI (31.4 ± 5.5 kg/m2) aged 18-35 years (22.7 ± 4.6 years) participated in the study. In addition, a control group consisting of 25 females (23.0 ± 6.7 years) with a high BMI (29.9 ± 4.1 kg/m2) participated in the study in which no mask was worn. The standardized patient evaluation of eye dryness (SPEED) questionnaire was completed first, followed by the phenol red thread (PRT) and tear ferning (TF) tests, before wearing the face mask. The subjects wore the face mask for 1 hour, and the measurements were performed again immediately after its removal. For the control group, the measurements were performed twice with one hour gap.
Significant (Wilcoxon test, p < 0.05) differences were found between the SPEED scores (p = 0.035) and the PRT measurement (p = 0.042), before and after wearing the surgical face mask. The PRT scores have improved after wearing the surgical face mask, while the dry eye symptoms detected by the SPEED questionnaire have increased. On the other hand, no significant (Wilcoxon test, p = 0.201) differences were found between the TF grades before and after wearing a surgical face mask. For the control group, no significant (Wilcoxon test, p > 0.05) differences were found between the two scores from the SPEED questionnaire and the PRT, and TF tests.
Wearing a surgical face mask for a short duration leads to a change in volume and quality of tears as well as dry eye symptoms in women with a high BMI.
由于 COVID-19 大流行，戴口罩已成为降低病毒传播率的重要措施。本研究旨在评估短期佩戴外科口罩对高体重指数（BMI）受试者泪膜参数的影响。
25 名高 BMI（31.4±5.5kg/m2）的女性（22.7±4.6 岁）参与了这项研究。此外，还招募了一组由 25 名高 BMI（29.9±4.1kg/m2）的女性（23.0±6.7 岁）组成的对照组，对照组不佩戴口罩。首先完成标准化患者眼干评估（SPEED）问卷，然后进行酚红线（PRT）和泪滴蕨（TF）试验，之后佩戴口罩。受试者佩戴口罩 1 小时后，立即在取下口罩后再次进行测量。对于对照组，两次测量之间间隔 1 小时。
佩戴外科口罩前后，SPEED 评分（p=0.035）和 PRT 测量值（p=0.042）存在显著差异（Wilcoxon 检验，p<0.05）。佩戴外科口罩后 PRT 评分有所改善，而 SPEED 问卷检测到的干眼症状有所增加。另一方面，佩戴外科口罩前后 TF 分级无显著差异（Wilcoxon 检验，p=0.201）。对于对照组，SPEED 问卷和 PRT、TF 测试的两个分数之间没有显著差异（Wilcoxon 检验，p>0.05）。
短期佩戴外科口罩会导致高 BMI 女性的泪液体积和质量以及干眼症状发生变化。
