COVID-19 pandemic: Surgical face mask and its effect on cardiopulmonary system in pregnancy: A short report

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has reawakened the necessity of wearing a face mask in public places in several countries including Nigeria. The effect of prolonged use of face mask on pregnant women is not yet evaluated. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of wearing a surgical face mask on the cardiopulmonary functions of pregnant women. A prospective and case-control study was conducted among 85 healthy pregnant women at gestational ages between 20 weeks and 37 weeks. Equal number of age and parity-matched healthy non-pregnant women were recruited as controls. Their baseline SpO2 and arterial pulse were measured. The participants were then instructed to wear surgical face masks and remain at a resting position for 1 h; thereafter, the SpO2 and pulse rates were measured using a mobile electronic pulse oximeter. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 23. The level of significance was set at 0.05. There was no significant difference in their mean SpO2 (97.44% ± 3.365) and (98.86% ± 1.014) for the pregnant women and the controls, respectively (P= 0.146). However, the mean pulse rate of the pregnant women was significantly higher than that of the controls (97. 58b/m ± 10.731 and 93.17b/m ± 8.850; P = 0.012). The incidence of hypoxemia (SpO2 < 90%) was very low (2.35%) in the pregnant women but non among the non-pregnant control. The incidence of hypoxia-related symptoms was also very low (1.8%). There was a weak negative correlation between the SpO2 and pulse rate (r = −0.0881; P = 0.464 in the pregnant group compared to the controls (r = −0.309; P = 0.004). A vast majority of healthy pregnant women can safely wear a surgical face mask for a long time.

A Comparative Evaluation of the Effects of N95 and Surgical Facemasks on Pregnant Women Performing Moderate-Intensity Exercise: A Prospective Randomized Study

“…Some respiratory changes may lead to a reduction in lung volumes due to splinting of the diaphragm by the enlarged gravid uterus, which may affect the woman’s ability to tolerate stressful events [ 6 ]. A previous study on pregnant women has shown that wearing a facemask at rest did not significantly reduce arterial oxygen saturation (SPO 2 ) and heart rates when compared with non-pregnant controls [ 7 ]. Another study also found that wearing surgical facemasks during a nonstress test for fetal surveillance did not significantly affect fetal parameters, such as heart rate reactivity, variability, and decelerations [ 8 ].…”