{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,4]],"date-time":"2026-08-04T05:01:39Z","timestamp":1785819699596,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":28,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,21]],"date-time":"2020-04-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1587427200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Influenza Resp Viruses"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2020,7]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title><jats:sec><jats:title>Background<\/jats:title><jats:p>Respiratory protective devices are critical in protecting against infection in healthcare workers at high risk of novel 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID\u201019); however, recommendations are conflicting and epidemiological data on their relative effectiveness against COVID\u201019 are limited.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Purpose<\/jats:title><jats:p>To compare medical masks to N95 respirators in preventing laboratory\u2010confirmed viral infection and respiratory illness including coronavirus specifically in healthcare workers.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Data Sources<\/jats:title><jats:p>MEDLINE, Embase, and CENTRAL from January 1, 2014, to March 9, 2020. Update of published search conducted from January 1, 1990, to December 9, 2014.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Study Selection<\/jats:title><jats:p>Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing the protective effect of medical masks to N95 respirators in healthcare workers.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Data Extraction<\/jats:title><jats:p>Reviewer pair independently screened, extracted data, and assessed risk of bias and the certainty of the evidence.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Data Synthesis<\/jats:title><jats:p>Four RCTs were meta\u2010analyzed adjusting for clustering. Compared with N95 respirators; the use of medical masks did not increase laboratory\u2010confirmed viral (including coronaviruses) respiratory infection (OR 1.06; 95% CI 0.90\u20101.25; <jats:italic>I<\/jats:italic><jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>\u00a0=\u00a00%; low certainty in the evidence) or clinical respiratory illness (OR 1.49; 95% CI: 0.98\u20102.28; <jats:italic>I<\/jats:italic><jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>\u00a0=\u00a078%; very low certainty in the evidence). Only one trial evaluated coronaviruses separately and found no difference between the two groups (<jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\u00a0=\u00a0.49).<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Limitations<\/jats:title><jats:p>Indirectness and imprecision of available evidence.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title><jats:p>Low certainty evidence suggests that medical masks and N95 respirators offer similar protection against viral respiratory infection including coronavirus in healthcare workers during non\u2013aerosol\u2010generating care. Preservation of N95 respirators for high\u2010risk, aerosol\u2010generating procedures in this pandemic should be considered when in short supply.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1111\/irv.12745","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,4]],"date-time":"2020-04-04T17:22:49Z","timestamp":1586020969000},"page":"365-373","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":353,"title":["Medical masks vs N95 respirators for preventing COVID\u201019 in healthcare workers: A systematic review and meta\u2010analysis of randomized trials"],"prefix":"10.1111","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Jessica J.","family":"Bartoszko","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact McMaster University Hamilton ON Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mohammed Abdul Malik","family":"Farooqi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medicine Division of Respirology McMaster University Hamilton ON Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Waleed","family":"Alhazzani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact McMaster University Hamilton ON Canada"},{"name":"Department of Medicine Division of Critical Care McMaster University Hamilton ON Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2315-5390","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mark","family":"Loeb","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact McMaster University Hamilton ON Canada"},{"name":"Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine McMaster University Hamilton ON Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_6_2_1","unstructured":"World Health Organization.WHO declares COVID\u201019 a pandemic.2020.https:\/\/www.who.int\/dg\/speeches\/detail\/who\u2010director\u2010general\u2010s\u2010opening\u2010remarks\u2010at\u2010the\u2010media\u2010briefing\u2010on\u2010covid\u201019\u2013\u201011\u2010march\u20102020. 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