Retinal and choroidal vascularity changes in healthcare professionals wearing FFP3 respirators

Abstract

Purpose

To evaluate short-term retinal and choroidal vascularity changes in the healthcare professionals after four hours of use filtering facepiece respirators (FFR).

Materials and Methods

This prospective study included 20 healthcare professionals. Oxygen saturation, pulse rate, systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), mean arterial pressure (MAP), mean ocular perfusion pressure (MOPP), and spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging were evaluated at baseline and after four hours wearing of FFP3 FFRs without an exhalation valve. Superior temporal artery (STA), inferior temporal artery (ITA), superior temporal vein (STV), and inferior temporal vein (ITV) diameter were measured from OCT images. The total subfoveal choroidal area (TCA), luminal area (LA), stromal area (SA) choroidal vascularity index [(CVI), the ratio of LA to TCA] were determined after binarization of enhanced depth imaging OCT (EDI-OCT) images of the choroid.

Results

The mean age of the participants was 27.35 ± 2.80 years (range, 25–34). Eight of them were female and 12 were male. After wearing the FFR for four hours, a significant decrease was observed in the mean DBP (p = 0.018), MAP (p = 0.016), and MOPP (p = 0.007) when compared to base-line values. STV diameter (p = 0.019) and ITV diameter (p = 0.046) measurements were found significantly higher than baseline measurements. A significant increase in the choroidal vascularity was observed in the LA (p = 0.004) and TCA values (p = 0.043) after wearing the FFR for four hours.

Conclusion

The current study shows that after four hours usage of FFR, in addition to systemic changes, retinal and choroidal vascularity might be affected significantly. With further studies, long-term effects and clinical significance of these short-term changes should be investigated on healthcare professionals.

Keywords:

• FFP3 respirators
• ocular perfusion
• optical coherence tomography
• retinal vessel diameter
• choroidal vascularity index

Disclosure statement

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. The authors declare that they have no confict of interest.