• Fernando Wangüemert Pérez, Marta Wangüemert Guerra, Eduardo Caballero Dorta, Carlos Javier Acosta Materan, Juan Pablo Tormo Juarez, Cristian Godoy Camacho, Aridane Cardenes Leon, Federico Segura Villalobos, José María Medina Gil, Marta López Perez, José Juan García Salvador, German Ostos Mateos Cañero, Claudia Jiménez Rivero, and Efrén Martínez-Quintana.
• Cardiavant, Centro Médico Cardiológico, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, España. Electronic address: fwanguemert@mac.com.
• Med Clin (Barc). 2023 Feb 10; 160 (3): 101106101-106.

Introduction And ObjectiveThere is little literature on the use of face masks in a treadmill test (TMT) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The objective of this study is to analyze the impact of face masks during a TMT performed during the prepandemic (without face mask) and postpandemic (with face mask) era.MethodsRetrospective observational unicentric study of patients undergoing TMT. The inclusion criterion were being over 16years old and having performed at least one TMT in the prepandemic and postpandemic period.ResultsOne thousand six hundred fifty-five patients were included in the study. Nine hundred thirty-five (56.5%) were men and 720 (43.5%) women. The mean age was 57.3±14.9 and the mean follow-up time was 15.4 months. Fifty-three percent patients had arterial hypertension, 20% dyslipidemia, 12% diabetes mellitus, 8% smoking habit, 19% personal history of ischemic heart disease, 5% COPD, 8% bronchial asthma, and 8% atrial fibrillation. In almost all the variables studied in PE, including the appearance of ventricular arrhythmias, no significant differences were found, neither by age nor sex, except for the existence of a very slight decrease in exercise capacity with mask use in older patients (>65years).ConclusionsThe use of surgical or FFP2 face masks during the TMT did not affect functional capacity, blood pressure, heart rate, or increased ventricular arrhythmias.Copyright © 2022 Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

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