face masks for respiratory viral illness prevention in healthcare settings: a concise systemic review and meta-analysis

Background and objectives: there are conflicting views regarding face mask guidelines amongst healthcare staff to prevent transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19), influenza and other respiratory viral infections (rvis). we conducted a thorough meta-analysis to statistically compare mask use versus no mask use efficacy for rvis in healthcare settings. materials and methods: preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis (prisma) guidelines were used for selecting researches published between 2003 and june 2022 from different databases, including publisher med- line (pubmed), web of science, etc.; 6 studies qualified for inclusion. data was pooled from in vivo randomized control, case-control and observational studies dealing with the relationship between face mask use and no use by patients or health personnel and rvi prevention in healthcare setups. results: the fixed and random-effects model was carried out to determine pooled odds ratios (ors) and their respective 95 percent confidence intervals (cis). the results revealed that wearing a face mask significantly reduced the risk of contracting a respiratory viral illness in hospital settings, with pooled or (95% ci) of 0.11 (0.04 to 0.33) (probability value (p) <0.08). conclusion: masks largely succeeded in stopping respiratory virus transmission, as evidenced by the meta-analysis of 6 studies (a total of 927 individuals).