Nasal Mucociliary Clearance and Sinonasal Symptoms in Healthcare Professionals Wearing FFP3 Respirators: A Prospective Cross-Sectional Study.
ORL J Otorhinolaryngol Relat Spec
; 84(5): 406-411, 2022.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1832799
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
The purpose of the present study was to assess nasal mucociliary clearance (NMC) and sinonasal symptoms of healthcare professionals wearing filtering facepiece-3 (FFP3) respirators.METHODS:
This prospective cross-sectional study was conducted at a large tertiary care academic center. Thirty-four healthcare professionals working at a coronavirus disease-19 patient care unit were included in the study. Visual analog scale (VAS) scores of sinonasal symptoms (nasal discharge, postnasal discharge, nasal blockage, hyposmia, facial pain/pressure, facial fullness, headache, fatigue, halitosis, cough) and the NMC times of the participants were assessed immediately before wearing FFP3 respirators and after 4 h of work with FFP3 respirators.RESULTS:
The mean age of the participants was 28.82 ± 4.95 (range, 26-31) years. Twenty participants were female and 14 were male. After wearing the FFP3 respirators for 4 h, a statistically significant increase was observed in total VAS scores for all sinonasal symptoms and NMC times (p < 0.001). When the VAS score of each sinonasal symptom was evaluated separately, a statistically significant increase was found for VAS scores of nasal discharge, postnasal discharge, nasal blockage, hyposmia, facial pain/pressure, and facial fullness (p < 0.05).CONCLUSION:
The present study shows that nasal mucosal functions might be affected significantly after 4 h of using FFP3 respirators. The long-term effects and clinical significance of these short-term changes should be investigated on healthcare professionals in further studies.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Nasal Obstruction
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Topics:
Long Covid
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Language:
English
Journal:
ORL J Otorhinolaryngol Relat Spec
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
000524418
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