Context: Face masks are recommended for patients with respiratory symptoms to reduce influenza transmission. Little knowledge exists regarding actual utilization and acceptance of face masks in primary care.
Objective: Compare distribution of face masks to clinic and community trends in respiratory infection (RI) and influenza-like illness (ILI); estimate the annual need for face masks in primary care.
Design: Retrospective observational study of practice data from a 31-week period starting in October 2009.
Setting: Family practice clinic in Madison, Wis.
Patients: Patients with fever, cough, or other respiratory symptoms as evaluated by reception staff.
Main outcome measures: Age, sex, and weekly counts of individuals receiving a face mask, as well as counts of RI and ILI patients based on ICD-9 coding from 27 statewide clinics.
Results: Face mask counts were 80% of RI counts for the clinic and reflected the demographics of the clinic population. Distribution was correlated to prevalence of RI (R = 0.783, P < 0.001) and ILI (R = 0.632, P < 0.001). Annually, 8% of clinic visits were for RI.
Conclusions: The high percentage of face mask use among RI patients reflects the feasibility of this intervention to help control influenza transmission in a primary care setting. Using the present data, clinics can estimate the annual need for face masks.