Effects of intensive wearing face masks on patients with postinfectious cough: A randomized controlled trial

Background: Postinfectious cough was a common clinical symptom, which troubled patients and increased economic burden. The efficacy of pharmacotherapy for this symptom was unsatisfactory. This study aimed to explore the intervention effect of intensified mask-wearing on patients with post-upper respiratory tract infection cough and its role in reducing the economic burden of patients.

Methods: As a randomized, controlled, single-blind trial, a total of 46 eligible patients with postinfectious cough were selected from local hospital, from November 2023 to February 2024. They were randomized into a control group (n = 21) and an experimental group (n = 25). Both groups received routine diagnosis and treatment, and the experimental group additionally received wearing medical surgical masks for >8 hours every day. All patients were followed up by on-site evaluation or telephone follow-up every 3 days for 3 weeks. We used a cough evaluation test to evaluate symptoms, recorded mask-wearing duration, and adjusted the treatment plan.

Results: There were no statistically significant differences in age, gender, course of disease, cough severity, and time of wearing face masks in the early stage between 2 groups (P > .05). Three people (12.0%) in the experimental group were excluded from the study because of substandard wearing face masks. The average daily mask-wearing time of the experimental and control groups were: 9.7 ± 0.9 versus 1.2 ± 2.2 hours (P < .001). There was a statistically significant difference in cough severity scores between 2 groups on the 9th day of follow-up, 6.6 ± 2.0 versus 8.0 ± 2.5 (P < .05), the markedly effective and total effective rates were: 86.4% versus 57.1% and 31.81% versus 38.09 % (P <.05). The treatment time for all patients in 2 groups to achieve effectiveness was: 10.1 ± 4.6 versus 13.0 ± 4.1 days (P < .05). The final medical expenditure of 2 groups were 289.4 (185.2, 782.2) CNY versus 717.5 (548.5, 1582.2) CNY (P < .05).

Conclusion: The compliance of patients with intensive wearing face masks was high. The intensive wearing of face masks had a good intervention effect on the treatment of postinfectious cough, which could effectively reduce cough symptoms of patients, shorten the course of the disease, and reduce medical expenditure.