Conclusions
Compared to a mask free period, wearing an ATSM 3 triple layer surgical mask resulted in a small increase in ICO2 consistent with the mechanical deadspace behind the mask. The rise in ICO2 levels varied inversely with subject age, reflecting the known increase in dead space to tidal volume ratio of the youngest subjects. ETCO2 increased in all age groups by a lesser amount, but most importantly, ETCO2 levels remained in the normal range even in the youngest subject subgroup. These small, clinically insignificant changes in ETCO2 were not enough to prompt a sustained increase in respiratory rate. Oxygen saturation and heart rate were unaffected by surgical masking.During pandemics current and future, the wearing of surgical masks may be encouraged in adults and children over age 2 without concerns of the effects of carbon dioxide retention or impaired oxygenation.