Effects of Prolonged Use of Face Masks among Healthcare Workers Working in a Tertiary level Hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal

Abstract

COVID-19 is a pandemic threat that affects every aspect of life on the planet. Hundreds of thousands of cases werediagnosed around the world in a short period of time. Health workers are critical to the health-care system and play acritical role during global pandemics. They are also a high-risk group that must wear a face mask for extended periodsof time. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of prolonged facemask use on healthcare workers. Adescriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at Shahid Gangalal National Heart Centre, Kathmandu, Nepal. Theinformation from 335 healthcare personnel was collected using a self-administered questionnaire technique. This studyincluded all of the hospital’s healthcare workers from various departments. The descriptive analysis was carried out usingSPSS statistical software, version 26. Out of 355 respondents, the majority of responders (69.9%) were under 30 years old,with a mean age of 29.03 (± 4.7) years. Regarding the effects of wearing a face mask for a longer length of time, 99.70 % ofthe health workers experienced some sort of effect. The most prevalent effects were pain behind the ear (84.2%), difficultduring exertion (71.0%), headache (57.6%), and the least common was alteration in sense of smell (15.2 %). According tothe findings, almost all of the participants experienced some form of effect from wearing a face mask, hence necessaryaction by concerned authorities and participants is required to minimize these effects.