Central European Journal of Sport Sciences and Medicine


ISSN: 2300-9705     eISSN: 2353-2807    OAI    DOI: 10.18276/cej.2021.3-10
CC BY-SA   Open Access   DOAJ  DOAJ

Issue archive / Vol. 35, No. 3/2021
Surgical Mask Use in Physical Ecercise in Young Healthy Subjects Sume Trial

Authors: Hugo Mendonça Café ORCID
Hospital Particular do Algarve, Gambelas, Portugal

Marta Leitão ORCID
Hospital Particular do Algarve, Gambelas, Portugal

Anya Freitas ORCID
Faro Health Center, Portugal

Ana Marreiros ORCID
Medicine and Biomedical Sciences Faculty, University of Algarve, Portugal
Keywords: surgical mask exercise treadmill test stress test oxygen saturation Covid19 EC
Data publikacji całości:2021
Page range:9 (117-125)
Cited-by (Crossref) ?:

Abstract

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of surgical masks has become the new normal. The use of these devices in exercise and medical situations has been advocated with the purpose of reducing contagions, but some concerns exist regarding its impact of physical fitness and safety of use. If the use of mask while exercising can cause decreased functional capacity or dangerous hypoxemia is still something we know little of. Therefore, we performed maximal treadmill stress tests in 12 healthy young subjects, with and without surgical mask use, and measured exercise capacity, oxygen saturation (rest, peak exercise and post-exercise) and electrocardiographic changes on a standard treadmill test. Exercise capacity and oxygen saturation levels decreased in peak exercise vs rest in a statistically significant manner when mask was used. ECG changes, although not significant, were present in 3 subjects when mask was used and disappeared when the test was made unmasked. We concluded that masked exercise has the potential to cause decreased exercise load and oxygen saturation and potentially cause diagnostic errors in medical exams.
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