The Cardiopulmonary Effects of Mask Wearing

This transcript has been edited for clarity.

Welcome to Impact Factor, your weekly dose of commentary on a new medical study. I'm Dr F. Perry Wilson of the Yale School of Medicine.

There was a time when I would have had to explain to you what an N95 mask is, how it is designed to filter out 95% of fine particles, defined as stuff in the air less than 2.5 microns in size.

But of course, you know that now. The N95 had its moment — a moment that seemed to be passing as the concentration of airborne coronavirus particles decreased.

But, as the poet said, all that is less than 2.5 microns in size is not coronavirus. Wildfire smoke is also chock full of fine particulate matter. And so, N95s are having something of a comeback.

That's why an article that took a deep look at what happens to our cardiovascular system when we wear N95 masks caught my eye. In a carefully controlled experiment, you can prove that, from the perspective of your heart, wearing these masks is different from not wearing these masks — but just barely.

Mask wearing has been the subject of intense debate around the country.