Prolonged facemask wearing among hospital workers and dry eye - a mixed-methods study.

Autor: Li T; Department of Ophthalmology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA. tianjing.li@cuanschutz.edu.; Department of Epidemiology, Colorado School of Public Health, Aurora, CO, USA. tianjing.li@cuanschutz.edu., McCann PM; Department of Ophthalmology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA., Wilting S; Department of Ophthalmology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA., McNamara S; Department of Ophthalmology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA., Gregory DG; Department of Ophthalmology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA., Hauswirth SG; Department of Ophthalmology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA., Ifantides C; Department of Ophthalmology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA., Benning L; Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA., Sequeira TA; Survey Research Center, Brown University School of Public Health, Providence, RI, USA., Qureshi R; Department of Ophthalmology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA.; Department of Epidemiology, Colorado School of Public Health, Aurora, CO, USA., Liu SH; Department of Ophthalmology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA.; Department of Epidemiology, Colorado School of Public Health, Aurora, CO, USA., Clark MA; Department of Health Services, Policy, and Practice, Brown University School of Public Health, Providence, RI, USA.; Survey Research Center, Brown University School of Public Health, Providence, RI, USA., Saldanha IJ; Department of Health Services, Policy, and Practice, Brown University School of Public Health, Providence, RI, USA.; Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA., Abraham AG; Department of Ophthalmology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA.; Department of Epidemiology, Colorado School of Public Health, Aurora, CO, USA.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: BMC ophthalmology [BMC Ophthalmol] 2023 Oct 19; Vol. 23 (1), pp. 420. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Oct 19.
DOI: 10.1186/s12886-023-03153-3
Abstrakt: Background: Prolonged facemask wearing may have negatively affected essential workers with dry eye. We conducted a mixed-methods study to examine and understand the associations of the ocular surface, periocular environment, and dry eye-related symptoms among hospital workers across the job spectrum with prolonged facemask use.
Methods: We recruited clinical and non-clinical hospital workers with self-reported symptoms of dry eye and prolonged facemask use. We measured symptoms using the 5-item Dry Eye Questionnaire and the Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI). Objective ocular signs included corneal and conjunctival staining, fluorescein tear break up time (TBUT), meibography, tear film interferometry, and periocular humidity. We compared symptoms and signs across levels of periocular humidity, dry eye severity, facemask type, and job type. Participants with moderate or severe dry eye symptoms (OSDI > = 23) were invited for a semi-structured, one-on-one interview.
Results: We enrolled 20 clinical and 21 non-clinical hospital workers: 27% were 40 years or older, 76% were female, 29% reported a race other than White, and 20% were Hispanic. Seventeen individuals participated in the semi-structured interviews. From the quantitative analyses, we found that 90% of participants reported worsened severity of dry eye at work due to facemasks. Although wearing facemasks resulted in higher periocular humidity levels compared with not wearing facemasks, 66% participants reported increased airflow over their eyes. Findings from the qualitative interviews supported the finding that use of facemasks worsened dry eye symptoms, especially when facemasks were not fitted around the nose. The data did not suggest that non-clinical hospital workers experienced a greater impact of dry eye than clinical workers.
Conclusions: Healthcare providers and patients with dry eye should be educated about the discomfort and the ocular surface health risks associated with inadequately fitted facemasks. Wearing a fitted facemask with a pliable nose wire appears to mitigate the upward airflow.
(© 2023. BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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