Effects of Wearing Facial Masks on Pulmonary Function, Oxygen Saturation, Heart Rate and Blood Pressure During the Six-Minute Walk Test in Healthy Subjects

Abstract

The widespread use of surgical masks has prompted concern over their physiological effects during exercise, particularly with scarce data from South Asia; this randomized crossover study therefore evaluated 80 healthy young adults in Nepal performing six-minute walk tests with and without a surgical mask, finding that mask use significantly reduced walking distance (537.9 ± 24.9 m vs. 564.8 ± 22.3 m; p <0.001) and post-exercise oxygen saturation (95.8 ± 1.6% vs. 98.1 ± 0.8%; p <0.001), significantly decreased post-exercise pulmonary function (FVC and FEV1; both p <0.01), and led to significantly higher post-exercise heart rate and systolic blood pressure (both p <0.01), indicating a small but measurable physiological burden during light exercise which, while tolerable for healthy young adults, highlights a need for caution and further study in vulnerable populations with cardiorespiratory conditions.