Masks less likely to affect lung function – NBC7 San Diego

A report released Monday by a team of researchers, including a team of researchers at the University of California, San Diego, found that wearing a mask is unlikely to cause shortness of breath or other problems with poor lung function. ..

According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, wearing a face mask can reduce the spread of COVID-19 by reducing respiratory droplets and aerosols that erupt into the air during breathing, talking, laughing, sneezing, and coughing. Sneeze. The physical barrier created by the mask has raised concerns that it can impair the cardiopulmonary system by making breathing difficult, altering the flow of inhaled oxygen and exhaled carbon dioxide, and increasing dyspnea-especially shortness of breath. Or the medical term for dyspnea during physical activity.

In a study published Monday in the Journal of the American Thoracic Society, a team of American and Canadian researchers may have increased sensations of dyspnea, but wearing a face mask can improve lung function even when worn during strenuous exercise. We conclude that there is little evidence that it will drop significantly.

“Activity may feel more effort, but the effect of wearing a mask on breathing work, gases such as oxygen and CO2 in the blood, or other physiological parameters is small, often too small to detect. I can’t, “said the doctor. Susan Hopkins, the first author of this study and a professor of medicine and radiology at UCSD School of Medicine.

“There is no evidence to support gender or age differences in the physiological response to exercise while wearing a face mask,” she said.

Hopkins specializes in exercise physiology and the study of the lungs under stress.

Melissa Adan of NBC7 has a story.

The only exception, the authors say, may be people with severe dyspnea where increased resistance to breathing or slight changes in blood gas can cause dyspnea so great that it affects athletic performance. I have.

“In such cases, these individuals may feel too uncomfortable to exercise, and it should be discussed with their doctor,” Hopkins said. “But we must also consider the fact that these individuals are at great risk if they become infected with COVID-19.”

Researchers came to the conclusion following a review of the scientific literature examining the effects of various face masks and respiratory load devices on physiological and perceptual responses to physical activity. These studies evaluated multiple factors, including respiratory function, arterial blood gas, effects on muscle blood flow and fatigue, cardiac function, and blood flow to the brain.

For healthy people, the effect of wearing masks on these markers was minimal, regardless of what type of mask they wore or the degree of exercise. The authors also stated that age does not play a significant role in adulthood. Gender differences were considered insignificant.

San Diego County officials have released information on where the coronavirus outbreak is occurring. Nicole Gomez of NBC 7 talks with locals on Pacific Beach about the county’s COVID-19 outbreak data.

“Wearing a face mask can be uncomfortable,” Hopkins said. “Respiratory resistance may increase slightly. You may re-inhale warm, slightly concentrated CO2 air. Also, if you are exercising, the mask will heat your face and make you sweat. there is.

“But these are sensory perceptions,” she continued. “They do not affect the cardiopulmonary function of healthy people. Therefore, masks can increase dyspnea, but knowing that physiology is essentially unchanged, they are infected with COVID-19. It needs to be weighed against reduced risk. “