In a recent study published in the journal Clinical Microbiology Reviews , researchers summarized the evidence on the benefits, practicalities, disbenefits, and impact of masks and masking. The safety, efficacy, and acceptability of masks and face coverings have been among the essential and contested questions of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Masks have long been used to reduce respiratory disease transmission in both endemic and epidemic conditions.
However, a 2023 Cochrane review was interpreted by some to mean that masks do not work and that mask mandates had no effect. This widely publicized polarization in scientific opinion highlighted the need for a new review of masks/masking. Therefore, the present study reviewed the benefits, practicalities, and harms of masks/masking.
Masks and respirators for prevention of respiratory infections: a state of the science review . Image Credit: Ulza / Shutterstock Several methodological challenges impede the design of high-quality randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of masks versus control interventions. The general criteria for the quality of complex interventions' RCTs are sampling size and strategy, setting, intervention piloting and optimization, compliance, outcome measures, adverse effects, and follow-up.
These are difficult to meet in RCTs. Further, the outcome in trials on masks is an infectious disease that can be transmitted between persons. In trials of contagious infections, unlike those of non-communi.
