Skin problems related to personal protective equipment among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic (online research)

Abstract

Introduction

Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) is a highly contagious infectious disease that first appeared in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. Health care workers (HCWs) are at increased risk of infection because the virus is highly contagious and can be transmitted by a variety of routes. Health care workers are required to use a variety of personal protective equipment (PPE) for prolonged hours and, as a result, they face varying degrees of cutaneous complications.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional online questionnaire survey to investigate skin problems caused by the use of PPE and personal hygiene measures. We developed a survey with 32 questions using Google forms and distributed it via WhatsApp and Facebook groups.

Results

A total of 1142 responses were obtained. Among the respondents, 88.1% reported adverse skin reactions due to PPE and personal hygiene measures. Female sex, working as a nurse, wearing PPE more than 6 h/day, and working more than 3 days/week increase the risk of PPE-related skin problems.

Conclusion

In this study, we highlighted skin problems related to PPE and found out risk factors for PPE-related skin problems.

Keywords:

• COVID-19
• skin side effects
• protection

Author contributions

Study conception and design: Fatma Etgu; Data collection: Fatma Etgu and Sevda Onder; Analysis and interpretation of results: Fatma Etgu and Sevda Onder; Draft manuscript preparation: Fatma Etgu. All authors reviewed the results and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).