Assessment of respiratory function in children wearing a N95 mask with or without an exhalation valve: data compared

Abstract

In response to the current COVID-19 pandemic, universal face masking represents one of the most important strategies to limit the spread of infection. However, their use in children is still highly debated [ 1, 2] and there are few data [ 3, 4] describing their possible effects on respiratory function in children.

A dataset in this paper presents a comparison of the data related to the effects on respiratory function of children wearing a filtering facepiece 2 (N95 mask) with or without exhalation valve. 22 healthy children were randomly assigned to two groups, both groups wearing an N95 mask: one without an exhalation valve (group A), another with an exhalation valve (group B).

Children were subjected to a 72-minute test: the first 30 minutes without mask, then 30 minutes wearing face mask while practiced their usual play activity; finally, 12 minutes, with face mask in place, while they walked as in a walking test. They were monitored through to microstream capnography system (Rad-97TM with Nomo-Line Capnography, Masimo, Irvine, CA, USA) to log oxygen saturation (SpO2) and respiratory rate (RR).

We use the Wilcoxon test to analyzed the differences between the parameters recorded during the study in group A and B. Data analysis was performed using JMP14.3.0 program for Mac by SAS Institute inc.