The effect of mask use on maternal oxygen saturation in term pregnancies during the COVID-19 process

Abstract

ObjectivesOur aim was to evaluate the effect of standard surgical and N-95 respiratory mask use on maternal oxygen saturation, vital signs and result on non-stress tests in term pregnancies.MethodsIt is a prospective observational study. The study included healthy, not in labor, singleton pregnant women of 370/7–410/7 weeks who were applied to our hospital for routine obstetric control examination between March 1, 2020, and August 31, 2020. Patients were randomised by coin toss method. Oxygen saturation, systolic, and diastolic arterial blood pressure, pulse, respiratory rate, and temperature of pregnant women using surgical masks and respiratory masks were measured before and after the non-stress test. The tolerance of the masks was also evaluated. Student’s t-test was used for variables showing parametric distribution and the Mann Whitney U-test was used for non-parametric tests. The categorical variables between the groups was analyzed by using the Chi square test or Fisher Exact test. The statistical significance level was taken as p<0.05 in all tests.ResultsA total of 297 pregnant women using masks were included in the study. The effect of mask type on oxygen saturation before and after the non-stress test was found to be significant (97.1±1.8 corresponds to 95.3±2.6 for the surgical mask, p=0.0001; 97.8±1.7 corresponds to 93.7±2.0 for the respiratory mask, p=0.0001). Mask tolerance of patients using respiratory masks was significantly higher than those using surgical masks (mean 8, 1–10, p=0.0001).ConclusionsSurgical mask and respiratory mask usage decreased significantly in oxygen saturation in term pregnancies.

Does wearing double surgical masks during the COVID-19 pandemic reduce maternal oxygen saturation in term pregnant women?: A prospective study

“…In the aforementioned study, this effect was found to be more pronounced, especially with equipment that covers the whole face. Similar results have been obtained in studies with N95 masks [ 13 , 15 ]. In another study, it was stated that the heart rate of individuals wearing SM was lower than that with N95 [ 4 ].…”

“…In this study, a 23% reduction in maternal tidal volume occurred in pregnant women using N95 masks, but no change was found in maternal oxygen saturation and maternal and fetal heart rates. In a study conducted by Toprak et al During the COVID-19 pandemic period, it was observed that the use of N95 or SMs in term pregnant women significantly decreased maternal oxygen saturation [ 15 ]. It was determined that this decrease was more pronounced with the N95 mask.…”

“…This is a higher value than for non-pregnant individuals. However, the use of N95 masks has been shown in some studies to slightly increase the respiratory rate [ 15 ]. The respiratory rate in the present study seems to be compatible with the physiological increase in a term pregnancy.…”

Possible toxicity of chronic carbon dioxide exposure associated with mask use, particularly in pregnant women, children and adolescents -a scoping review

“…The scientists found that children born during the pandemic have significantly reduced verbal, motor, and overall cognitive performance compared to children born pre-pandemic with consistent and significant reductions (p<0.001) showing lower cognitive skills [108]. Could there be a connection between the increased use of N95 masks by pregnant women [107], higher carbon dioxide re-breathing levels (Tables 1&2) [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]27,31,32,41] and the results [108] of this recent study? Fresh outdoor air has around 0.04% carbon dioxide [15,16] and the level of re-breathed CO 2 under masks can rise to levels far higher than 1% as mentioned above [18,19,[21][22][23][24][25]27], especially when masks are worn in closed buildings additionally worsening the sick building syndrome [15,16].…”

“…A look at Table 3 shows that the results of the FDA (1979) [58] and Howard experiments (2012) [59,60] on toxic CO 2 levels may explain the increase in the incidence of stillbirths found in the above studies. Moreover, wearing N95 masks that are linked to a higher carbon dioxide re-breathing (Table 2) [31,32,41] is significantly more associated with higher gestational age than surgical masks [107].…”