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Impact of universal masking in reducing the risk of nosocomial respiratory viruses among people with cancer

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 October 2024

Judy Yan Open the ORCID record for Judy Yan [Opens in a new window] ,
Tara McClure Open the ORCID record for Tara McClure [Opens in a new window] ,
Anoshé Aslam ,
Tania Bubb Open the ORCID record for Tania Bubb [Opens in a new window] ,
N. Esther Babady ,
Shauna Usiak Open the ORCID record for Shauna Usiak [Opens in a new window]  and
Mini Kamboj
Judy Yan*
Affiliation:
Infection Control, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
Tara McClure
Affiliation:
Infection Control, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
Anoshé Aslam
Affiliation:
Infection Control, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
Tania Bubb
Affiliation:
Infection Control, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
N. Esther Babady
Affiliation:
Clinical Microbiology Service, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
Shauna Usiak
Affiliation:
Infection Control, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
Mini Kamboj
Affiliation:
Infection Control, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA Infectious Disease Service, Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA Department of Medicine, Joan and Sanford Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY, USA
*
Corresponding author: Judy Yan; Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Background:

Universal masking within healthcare settings was adopted to combat the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In addition to mitigating the risk for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, it also had an added benefit of preventing the nosocomial transmission of other respiratory viral diseases.

Objective:

This study examines the impact of the masking intervention on nosocomial respiratory viral infections (RVI) in vulnerable sub-populations of people with cancer at a tertiary care hospital.

Design:

Interrupted time series analysis.

Methods:

We reviewed non-SARS-CoV-2 nosocomial RVI between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2023 and compared its quarterly trends before (January 2017 to March 2020) and after (April 2020 to December 2023) the universal masking intervention was implemented.

Results:

Prior to the masking policy, there was no significant change in the quarterly rate of non-SARS-CoV-2 nosocomial RVI (baseline trend: P = 0.662). Crude infection rates decreased from 5.6% preintervention to 4.3% after the masking policy was implemented (P < 0.001). Quarterly trends continued to steadily decline post-intervention (β = −0.10, SE = 0.04, P < 0.007).

Conclusions:

Our results suggest that universal face masking is associated with reduced non-SARS-CoV-2 nosocomial RVI, providing further evidence to support the continued use of face masks in healthcare settings to protect the health of immunocompromised patients.

Type
Original Article
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 45 , Issue 12 , December 2024 , pp. 1405 - 1409
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America

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