The Effects of Wearing Facemasks during Vigorous Exercise in the Aspect of Cardiopulmonary Response, In-Mask Environment, and Subject Discomfort

Abstract

Non-pharmaceutical intervention such as wearing a mask during the pandemic of SARS-CoV-2 is one of the most important ways to prevent the spread of the virus. However, despite high effectiveness and easy to access, the biggest problem is &apos;discomfort&apos;. The purpose of this study was to measure the changes of cardiopulmonary response and related factors affecting breathing discomfort when wearing a mask during vigorous exercise. Fifteen healthy male adults participated in this study. The experimental protocol consisted of three conditions: no mask; KF-94 mask; and sports mask. Each condition consisted of three stages: stage I, 2 m/s on even level; stage II, 2 m/s with 5 degrees inclination; and stage III, 3 m/s on even level. Oxygen saturation (SaO(2)) and heart rate (HR), partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO(2)), energy expenditure index (EEI), in-mask temperature, humidity, and a five-point scale questionnaire to evaluate subjective discomfort were measured. The results show that there was a significantly higher discomfort score in mask conditions compared with no mask (p < 0.05) and only pCO(2) change significantly related to subjective discomfort during exercise (p < 0.05). Moreover, the pCO(2) washout was significantly disturbed when wearing a sports mask in stages 2 and 3, which was related to wearer subjective discomfort