Extract
Patients with COPD infected with SARS-CoV-2 are more likely to require intensive care and have a higher risk of mortality [1, 2]. Vaccine strategies are critical in reducing the risk of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); however, vaccination alone cannot ensure prevention and control due to the emergence of new variants of the coronavirus [3, 4]. The use of masks in community settings is another strategy to prevent COVID-19 [5]. Therefore, it is reasonable for patients with COPD to use face masks in public places during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Abstract
Although patients with COPD using a surgical mask while walking were more likely to develop dyspnoea than those without a mask, there was no decrease in 6MWD or SpO2. A surgical mask can be safely recommended for COVID-19 prevention in patients with COPD. https://bit.ly/3xldw4P
Acknowledgements
The authors thank all the patients and the team of investigators who participated in the study.
Footnotes
This randomised controlled trial was registered on the website of the University Hospital Medical Information Network Clinical Trials Registry (UMIN000042596). All raw data collected for the study will be made available to others after request.
Author contributions: All authors had full access to all data in the study and had final responsibility for the decision to submit for publication. K. Hirai and H. Sagara contributed to the study concept and design. K. Hirai, H. Sato, Y. Sato and Y. Uchida collected and interpreted the data. K. Hirai wrote the draft manuscript. E. Inoue and K. Hirai performed the statistical analyses. A. Tanaka, E. Inoue and H. Sagara revised the manuscript for important intellectual content. K. Hirai obtained the funding.
Conflict of interest: K. Hirai reports personal fees from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim and GlaxoSmithKline outside of the submitted work. A. Tanaka reports personal fees from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline, KYORIN Pharmaceutical and Sanofi outside of the submitted work. H. Sato, Y. Sato and Y. Uchida have nothing to disclose. E. Inoue reports personal fees from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Nippontect systems, Pfizer and RCR outside of the submitted work. H. Sagara reports personal fees from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Kyorin Pharmaceutical, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis and Sanofi outside of the submitted work.
Support statement: This work was supported by grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI; grant number 21K15668). Funding information for this article has been deposited with the Crossref Funder Registry.
- Received June 18, 2021.
- Accepted July 28, 2021.
- Copyright ©The authors 2021. For reproduction rights and permissions contact permissions{at}ersnet.org
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