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Qualitative fit test outcomes for N95 filtering facepiece respirators in health care workers
Richa Wardhan1, Vrinda Patel2, Andrew B Neff1
1Department of Anesthesiology, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL.
Background:
We analyzed the qualitative fit test results of the filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs) used at our institution to determine their performance and utility.
Methods:
We retrospectively analyzed 12,582 qualitative fit testing results for several FFR models among 8,809 health care workers (HCWs).
Results:
The overall failure rate for HCWs was 15.2%. Nearly one-third (2933/8809, 33.3%) had multiple FFRs fit tested. HCW sex was a statistically significant indicator of fit testing failure (χ2 = 29.9, df = 1, P < .001), with women having a 44% higher likelihood (OR, 1.4; 95% CI: 1.27-1.65) than men. There were statistically significant differences in the failure rate across FFRs (Fig 4, F[5, 12475] = 8.4, P < .001). Fluidshield 46867S had a significantly higher failure rate (49%) than the 3M 1860 (P = .012), 3M 1860S (P < .001), 3M 8210 (P < .001), and Safelife (P < .001) FFRs.
Conclusions:
There was a large degree of variation in fit testing results for the FFRs tested. Although we were unable to find an FFR that fit more than 95% of the HCWs successfully, we identified poorly functioning FFRs that can help our institution with decision-making and budgeting for acquisition and stocking appropriate FFRs.
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