Impact of Wearing Face Masks on Patients with Severe Asthma During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Figures & data

Table 1 Survey on Mask Use Behavior and Perception of Patients during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Question	Response (n, %)
Q1: Have you experienced an exacerbation of asthma during COVID-19 outbreak?* (yes, %)	20 (23.8%)
Q2: Do you feel that your asthma is better controlled (on average) during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to that in the previous years?	60 (71.4%)
Q3: Have you experienced an exacerbation of asthma from wearing a mask during outdoor activities due to COVID-19?	2.24 ± 2.07
Lung function FEV1/FVC < 70% (n=35): 2.69 ± 2.05
Lung function FEV1/FVC ≥ 70% (n=48): 2.02 ± 2.04
Q4: Are you worried that you may be develop COVID-19 during the pandemic?	2.73 ± 2.14
COVID-19 pandemic epidemic region (n=10): 3.20 ± 1.89 COVID-19 pandemic non-epidemic region (n=20): 2.35 ± 2.31
Q5: Have you delayed scheduled outpatient clinic appointments during the COVID-19 pandemic?	19 (22.6%)
COVID-19 pandemic epidemic region (n=10): 3 (30%)
COVID-19 pandemic non-epidemic region (n=20): 3 (15%)
Q5-1^†: What was the main reason for delaying your medical appointments during the COVID-19 pandemic?
1) Worried about cross-infection of COVID-19 in the hospital: 16 (84.2%)
2) Effort to socially distance: (10.5%)
3) Asthma was controlled well: 1 (5.3%)

Notes: Data are presented as numbers (percentages) or mean ± SD. (Likert 7-point scale: 1=strongly disagree, 7=strongly agree). COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019; FEV1/FVC, forced expiratory volume in 1 s/forced vital capacity. *February 2020 to December 2020. ^†Patients who answered yes to question 5.

Figure 1 (A) Distance walked in the six-minute walking test (6MWT) by severe asthmatic patients with or without a KF-94 mask. (B–D) Comparison of changes in oxygen saturation (SpO₂; (B), heart rate (C), and Borg scale score (D) before and after 6MWT between the two conditions. *P<0.05, ns: not statistically significant. GraphPad Prism 7 (GraphPad Software, CA, USA) was used for statistical analyses.