The Effect of Respiratory Protective Surgical Mask on Physiological Markers of Endurance Performance in a Recreational Runner

The effects of wearing face masks on the perception and mood of male healthy male adults during treadmill running: A pilot study

In the past few years, the face mask has been recommended for the prevention of exposing others to COVID-19. Wearing a face mask may have the potential to increase dyspnea and discomfort during exercise; however, controversy exists on whether wearing face masks during exercise affects exercise performance, perception, and mood in runners. We investigated the physiological and perceptual responses of healthy male adults who had experienced long-distance running while exercising at different intensities. Nine healthy young adults who were long-distance runners wearing surgical face mask conducted an incremental treadmill protocol. The protocol was three 6-min stages (20%, 40%, and 60% of maximal heart rate, respectively). The rating of perceived exertion (RPE) and the feeling scale (FS) were measured. RPE was higher in mask condition than in unmask condition (No mask vs. Face mask, light; 8.22 vs. 8.78, p = 0.615, middle; 10.00 vs. 10.78, p = 0.345, high; 12.33 vs. 13.67, p = 0.044.), while FS was not different between conditions. The present study shows that wearing a mask may increase rating of perceived exertion and discomfort when the exercise intensity exceeds a certain threshold in healthy male adults who have experienced long-distance running.

Characterization of Potential Intoxications with Medicines in a Regional Setting

The Portuguese Poison Information Center (from Portuguese—CIAV) is a call center that offers medical assistance in case of possible intoxication with any kind of product, including medicines. This center´s main goal is to inform and guide the general public and health professionals. This work aimed to analyze and compare data corresponding to the telephone calls from the Algarve region (South of Portugal), received by CIAV during 2019 and 2020, regarding potential intoxications with medicines. To this end, data provided by CIAV on possible cases of medication intoxication in the Algarve region were collected, including the number of calls received, the place of origin of the call, the age group and sex of the intoxicated individual, the route of exposure to the drug, the circumstances of contact with the substance, the existence of symptoms, and the drug or drugs involved in the potential intoxication. The results showed that the number of cases slightly decreased in 2020 (n = 1261) compared with 2019 (n = 1340), with a high number of cases of intoxication in children between one and four years old in both years (21.2%; n = 152 in 2019; 16.4%; n = 115 in 2020). The drugs belonging to the locomotor system group (paracetamol and ibuprofen) were the main drugs involved, followed by the central nervous system pharmacotherapeutic group, namely benzodiazepines (diazepam and alprazolam). Paracetamol was the main drug responsible for the calls to CIAV (n = 71 in 2019; n = 63 in 2020), while for the remaining drugs there were fluctuations in their positions between both years. In some cases, this swinging may be explained by the possible changes in therapy due to potential interactions with drugs used for the treatment of symptoms of COVID-19 or perhaps related to misleading information released by the media about the use of some drugs, such as ibuprofen, during lockdown periods. Although there has been a decrease in calls to report possible drug intoxication in the Algarve region, the profile of calls was very similar. Paracetamol was the drug with the highest number of reported cases and the group of psychotropic drugs showed the largest increase between 2019 and 2020.

The physiological, perceptual, and thermoregulatory responses to facemask use during exercise

The use of masks in public settings and when around people has been recommended to limit the spread of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by major public health agencies. Several different types of masks classified as either medical- or non-medical grade are commonly used among the public. However, concerns with difficulty breathing, re-breathing exhaled carbon dioxide, a decrease in arterial oxygen saturation, and a decrease in exercise performance have been raised regarding the use of mask during exercise. We review the current knowledge related to the effect of different masks during exercise on cardiorespiratory, metabolic, thermoregulatory, and perceptual responses. As such, the current literature seems to suggest that there are minimal changes to cardiovascular, metabolic, and no changes to thermoregulatory parameters with facemask use. However, differences in ventilatory parameters have been reported with submaximal and maximal intensity exercise to volitional fatigue. Literature on perceptual responses to exercise indicate an impact on ratings of perceived exertion, dyspnea, and overall discomfort dependent on mask use as well as exercise intensity. In conclusion, data from the current literature suggests a minimal impact on physiological, perceptual, and thermoregulatory responses dependent on the type of mask used during exercise.

The effect of the protective face mask on cardiorespiratory response during aerobic exercise

Protective face mask (PFM) has been widely used for safety purposes and, after the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, its use is growing steadily, not only among healthcare personnel but also the general population. While PFM is important to preserve the wearer from contaminating agents present in the airflow, they are well known to increase the subjective perception of breathing difficulty. Although some studies demonstrated that PFM use worsens exercise tolerance, there are several studies stating that there is no such limitation with the use of PFM. Moreover, no serious adverse effects during physical exercise have been found in the literature. Physical exercise represents a significant challenge to the human body through a series of integrated changes in function that involve most of its physiologic systems. In this respect, cardiovascular and respiratory systems provide the capacity to sustain physical tasks over extended periods. Within this scenario, both convective oxygen (O₂ ) transport (product of arterial O₂ content x blood flow) to the working locomotor muscles and O₂ diffusive transport from muscle capillaries to mitochondria are of paramount importance to endurance performance. Interestingly, the effects of PFM on cardiorespiratory response during aerobic exercise depends on the type of mask and exercise (i.e., walking, running, or cycling), including decrease in ventilatory demands, arterial oxygen levels, maximal oxygen consumption, and endurance performance. The purpose of this review was to elucidate the effect of protective face mask-wearing on 1) cardiorespiratory responses during aerobic exercise and 2) endurance performance.