Respirator physiologic impact in persons with mild respiratory disease

Philip Harber, Silverio Santiago, Samantha Wu, Siddharth Bansal, Yihang Liu, David Yun

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

Objective: To assess whether mild respiratory disease affects physiologic adaptation to respirator use. Methods: The study compared the respiratory effects of dual cartridge half face mask and filtering facepeice (N95) respirators while performing simulated-work tasks. Subjects with mild chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (n = 14), asthma (n = 42), chronic rhinitis (n = 17), and normal respiratory status (n = 24) were studied. Mixed model regression analyses determined the effects of respirator type, disease status, and the respirator-disease interactions. Results: Respirator type significantly affected several physiologic measures. Respirator type effects differed among disease categories as shown by statistically significant interaction terms. Respiratory timing parameters were more affected than ventilatory volumes. In general, persons with asthma showed greater respirator-disease interactions than chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, rhinitis, or healthy subjects. Conclusions: The effects of respirator type differ according to the category of respiratory disease.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)155-162
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of occupational and environmental medicine
Volume52
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2010
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

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