State of the Science Review
Impact of personal protective equipment use on health care workers’ physical health during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2021.04.084Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Health care workers are essential workers at risk for COVID-19.

  • Personal protective equipment use causes adverse events among health care workers.

  • The most frequent adverse events are headache, dry skin, and dyspnoea.

  • Several risk factors increase adverse events.

  • Working conditions should be changed to decrease adverse events.

Abstract

Background

During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, health care workers (HCWs) have been obliged to wear personal protective equipment (PPE). We assessed the impact of PPE use on HCWs’ physical health and we examined factors related to a greater risk of adverse events due to PPE use.

Methods

We applied the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines and the Cochrane criteria. We searched PubMed, Medline, Scopus, ProQuest, CINAHL, and medRxiv from January 1, 2020 to December 27, 2020.

Results

Our review included 14 studies with 11,746 HCWs. The estimated overall prevalence of adverse events among HCWs was 78% with a range from 42.8% to 95.1% among studies. Among others, the following factors were related to the risk of adverse events among HCWs due to PPE use: obesity, diabetes mellitus, smoking, pre-existing headache, longer duration of shifts wearing PPE, increased consecutive days with PPE, and increased exposure to confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients.

Conclusions

The frequency of adverse events among HCWs due to PPE use is very high. Healthcare facilities should take the necessary precautions and change the working conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic to prevent adverse events associated with PPE use and minimize harm to HCWs.

Key Words

Adverse events
SARS-CoV-2
Risk factors
Health care staff
Headaches
PPE

Cited by (0)

Author contributions: P.G, I.V. and D.K. were responsible for the conception and design of the study. P.G, I.V., D.F., A.B. were responsible for the acquisition, analysis and interpretation of data. All the authors drafted the article or revised it critically for important intellectual content, and provided final approval of the version to be submitted.

Conflicts of interest: None.

Funding: None.

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