OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship between wearing protective masks combined with goggles and skin injuries in medical staff during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. DESIGN AND SETTING: A cross-sectional, multicenter online survey investigating skin injuries in medical staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Respondents voluntarily completed the questionnaire on their smartphones. Ordinal and multinomial logistic regression were employed to identify factors related to skin injuries. RESULTS: In total, 1,611 respondents wore protective masks combined with goggles in 145 hospitals in China; 1,281 cases of skin injuries were found, and the overall prevalence was 79.5%. Multiple concomitant skin injuries (68.5%) and injuries in four locations (24.0%) were the most common, followed by injuries in three locations (22.8%), two locations (21.7%) and one location (11.0%). Multinomial logistic regression indicated that sweating increased the risk of injuries in 1-4 locations (95% confidence interval [CI] for odds ratio [OR] 16.23-60.02 for one location and 38.22-239.04 for four locations), and wearing an N95 mask combined with goggles and a daily use > 4 hours increased the risk of injuries in four locations (95% CI for OR 1.18-5.31 and 1.14-3.93, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of skin injuries among medical staff wearing protective masks combined with goggles was very high. These were mainly device-related pressure injuries, moisture-associated skin damage and skin tears. The combination of multiple factors resulted in skin injuries at multiple sites. Preventing and managing sweating should be a focus for medical staff who wear protective masks combined with goggles for more than 4 hours.
Association between Protective Masks Combined with Goggles and Skin Injuries in Medical Staff during the COVID-19 Pandemic