Is It Safe to Wear Masks if I Have Servere Lung Disease?

If you have a lung disease like asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), it’s important to take steps to protect yourself from COVID-19 and other viruses. But you might be wondering if wearing a face mask to lower your risk of illness will make it harder to breathe, or even make your lung disease worse.

A group of Florida residents challenged Florida’s mask-wearing mandate in June.They argued that wearing a face covering could cause carbon dioxide (CO2) to build up and impair normal respiration.Also there has been information reported that masks do not allow you take in enough oxygen, or that they increase CO2 levels, but there is no medical evidence to support these claims.On the contrary,researchers conducted the study at how face masks do (or do not) affect the ability to breathe, even in people with lung disease, and published in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society.Studies show that masks don’t impact air exchange, even for people with severe emphysema.

Michael Campos, MD finished a study about the effect of face masks on gas exchange in healthy persons and patients with COPD.

To demonstrate the changes in end-tidal CO2 and oxygen saturation as measured by pulse oximetry before and after wearing a surgical mask,Michael Campos, MD and co-authors used a convenience sample of 15 house staff physicians without lung conditions (aged 31.1 ± 1.9 yr, 60% male) and 15 veterans with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (aged 71.6 ± 8.7 yr, forced expiratory volume in 1 second [FEV1] 44.0 ± 22.2%, 100% male). The patients needed to have a postbronchodilator FEV1 <50% and FEV1/forced vital capacity <0.7 and were enrolled from the pulmonary function laboratory during a scheduled 6-minute walk test ordered to assess the need for supplemental oxygen.The 6-minute walk tests are done with arterial blood analysis before and immediately after the walk to assess the need for long-term oxygen.And the 6-minute walk tests are done with subjects using a surgical mask.

At 5 and 30 minutes, no major changes in end-tidal CO2 or oxygen saturation as measured by pulse oximetry of clinical significance were noted at any time point in either group at rest. With the 6-minute walk, subjects with severe COPD decreased oxygenation as expected (with two qualifying for supplemental oxygen). However, as a group, subjects with COPD did not exhibit major physiologic changes in gas exchange measurements after the 6-minute walk test using a surgical mask, particularly in CO2 retention.

As for the discomfort felt with surgical mask use that some healthy people may experience should been ascribed to neurological reactions (increased afferent impulses from the highly thermosensitive area of the face covered by the mask or from the increased temperature of the inspired air) or associated psychological phenomena such as anxiety, claustrophobia, or affective responses to perceived difficulty in breathing.These findings are in contrast to the use of N-95 masks, in which carbon dioxide tension/partial pressure (Pco2) may increase in lung-healthy users but without major physiologic burden.

So if you have severe lung disease, such as COPD or asthma, we still recommend you wear a face covering. About which masks should be recommended,please work with your doctor to find an solution.

Other Safety Precautions
Please remember that social distancing and hand washing are still very important safety precautions everyone should follow as well.

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