A Cross-sectional Study on Cutaneous Sideeffects Associated with Mask Usage among Doctors during COVID-19 Pandemic
Correspondence Address :
Dr. K Shankar,
No. 4-7-7/91, Raghavendra Nagar, Nacharam, Hyderabad-500076, Telengana, India.
E-mail: shhankar99@gmail.com
Introduction: The Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has brought major changes in people’s lifestyle, especially in healthcare workers. Healthcare workers caring for COVID-19 patients are spending long hours wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). There are reports of adverse skin reactions secondary to wearing PPE, especially face masks. However, it is essential to wear the protective equipment.
Aim: To assess the proportion of doctors who report adverse skin reaction after the use of face masks and enlist the skin reactions reported. Also to study the relationship between certain suspected factors and occurrence of skin reactions.
Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted using a questionnaire containing both open and closed ended questions which was distributed through online platform. The questionnaire contained details on the type of mask, duration of usage, frequency of change and dermatological manifestations experienced. Sample population constituted doctors who were willing to participate in the study. IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17.0 was used for analysis of data.
Results: The male to female ratio among the 220 doctors studied was 1:1.59. Maximum number of doctors (56.4%) wore N95 masks. Total 33.63% of them used one new mask every day and 60.90% of them used the mask for more than 6 hours continuously on a day. Acne was the most commonly reported problem accounting for 48.2%. Doctors using N95 masks reported acne more commonly.
Conclusion: N95 masks were the most commonly used masks. Total 88.18% of the doctors reported cutaneous manifestations. Acne was the most common dermatological problem reported. It was associated with the use of N95 masks and longer duration of use of N95 masks.
Acne, Coronavirus disease-2019, Dermatological manifestations, Healthcare workers
10.7860/JCDR/2021/49843.15579
Date of Submission: Apr 09, 2021
Date of Peer Review: May 13, 2021
Date of Acceptance: Sep 08, 2021
Date of Publishing: Oct 01, 2021
AUTHOR DECLARATION:
• Financial or Other Competing Interests: None
• Was Ethics Committee Approval obtained for this study? Yes
• Was informed consent obtained from the subjects involved in the study? Yes
• For any images presented appropriate consent has been obtained from the subjects. NA
PLAGIARISM CHECKING METHODS:
• Plagiarism X-checker: Apr 10, 2021
• Manual Googling: Jul 21, 2021
• iThenticate Software: Sep 18, 2021 (19%)
ETYMOLOGY: Author Origin
- Emerging Sources Citation Index (Web of Science, thomsonreuters)
- Index Copernicus ICV 2017: 134.54
- Academic Search Complete Database
- Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
- Embase
- EBSCOhost
- Google Scholar
- HINARI Access to Research in Health Programme
- Indian Science Abstracts (ISA)
- Journal seek Database
- Popline (reproductive health literature)
- www.omnimedicalsearch.com