Oct 31, 2020, 22:20 pm
It can be inconvenient, uncomfortable, and a hassle if you forget to bring it with you shopping — but one thing a face mask is not, is dangerous.
That’s what researchers found in the most recent study looking at how face masks do (or do not) affect the ability to breathe, even in people with lung disease.
Researchers conducted the study, published earlier this month in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society, after a group of Florida residents challenged Florida’s mask-wearing mandate in June.
They argued that wearing a face covering could cause carbon dioxide (CO2) to build up and impair normal respiration.
According to Campos, after Palm Beach County, Florida, residents protested mask mandates at a commissioner’s meeting, he looked up studies proving that surgical masks don’t impede breathing ability — and found none.
So he decided to prove it himself.
The study included 15 healthy participants and 15 military veterans with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with lung function below 50 percent.
They all wore face masks for 30 minutes and then walked for 6 minutes while wearing them. Each participant was then given a blood test, which showed that there were no changes in oxygen or CO2 levels.
Campos emphasized in the study that discomfort from masks shouldn’t turn into unfounded health worries.
https://www.healthline.com/health-news/e...d-research
That’s what researchers found in the most recent study looking at how face masks do (or do not) affect the ability to breathe, even in people with lung disease.
Researchers conducted the study, published earlier this month in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society, after a group of Florida residents challenged Florida’s mask-wearing mandate in June.
They argued that wearing a face covering could cause carbon dioxide (CO2) to build up and impair normal respiration.
Quote:“Everyone rebreathes a small amount of their own CO2 with each breath,” Minh Quang Nghi, DO, of Texas Health Physicians Group, who was not associated with the study, told Healthline. “Exhaled air, although containing some CO2, still contains a good amount of breathable air.”
He explained this is how rescue breathing is accomplished with CPR and that “a mask would not trap enough in the measured level of CO2 to cause a clinically significant change [poisoning].”
“Several of my colleagues, including me, were seriously annoyed with people not using face masks for different reasons in the middle of a pandemic that was steadily spreading,” said Dr. Michael Campos, lead study author and pulmonologist at Miami VA Medical Center and the University of Miami Hospital and Clinics.
According to Campos, after Palm Beach County, Florida, residents protested mask mandates at a commissioner’s meeting, he looked up studies proving that surgical masks don’t impede breathing ability — and found none.
So he decided to prove it himself.
Quote:“I looked for documented evidence of safety and found none,” said Campos. “Since we know it is easy to prove that masks are safe, we did the study quickly in a couple of weeks.”
The study included 15 healthy participants and 15 military veterans with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with lung function below 50 percent.
They all wore face masks for 30 minutes and then walked for 6 minutes while wearing them. Each participant was then given a blood test, which showed that there were no changes in oxygen or CO2 levels.
Quote:“This paper does not add much to the medical community, as we all know they are safe and use them all day,” said Campos. “But it’s most important for the public and I’m happy media are picking up on this.”
Campos emphasized in the study that discomfort from masks shouldn’t turn into unfounded health worries.
Quote:“It is important to inform the public that the discomfort associated with mask use should not lead to unsubstantiated safety concerns as this may attenuate the application of a practice proven to improve public health,” he and his team wrote.
https://www.healthline.com/health-news/e...d-research