{"title":"Is face shape associated with fitness of respiratory personal protective equipment-N95 masks?","authors":"Hsiang-Tai Chen, Chia-Ying Tsai, Chen-Cheng Yang, Chao-Ling Wang, Hung-Yi Chuang, Chih-Hsing Hung","doi":"10.2486/indhealth.2025-0109","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study investigates the impact of face shape on the pass rate of personal protective equipment N95 mask fit tests among Taiwanese healthcare workers (HCWs) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fit tests are crucial for controlling and preventing infection, but research indicates that face shape can affect the test's effectiveness. HCWs underwent a qualitative fit test and were categorized into round, square, long, and oval face shapes based on their profile pictures. A total of 352 HCWs participated the intervention, and 287 participants passed the test, among those participants, long shaped face had a passing rate of 80.2% and oval-shaped faces was 91.7%, while round-shaped faces had the lowest passing rate of 42.9%. This study reveals that long and oval shaped face participants in Taiwanese healthcare workers have a higher fitting rate than round-shaped participants, indicating better mask fit test pass rates.</p>","PeriodicalId":13531,"journal":{"name":"Industrial Health","volume":" ","pages":"517-522"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6000,"publicationDate":"2026-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13600758/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Industrial Health","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.2486/indhealth.2025-0109","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2026/3/9 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This study investigates the impact of face shape on the pass rate of personal protective equipment N95 mask fit tests among Taiwanese healthcare workers (HCWs) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fit tests are crucial for controlling and preventing infection, but research indicates that face shape can affect the test's effectiveness. HCWs underwent a qualitative fit test and were categorized into round, square, long, and oval face shapes based on their profile pictures. A total of 352 HCWs participated the intervention, and 287 participants passed the test, among those participants, long shaped face had a passing rate of 80.2% and oval-shaped faces was 91.7%, while round-shaped faces had the lowest passing rate of 42.9%. This study reveals that long and oval shaped face participants in Taiwanese healthcare workers have a higher fitting rate than round-shaped participants, indicating better mask fit test pass rates.
期刊介绍：
INDUSTRIAL HEALTH covers all aspects of occupational medicine, ergonomics, industrial hygiene, engineering, safety and policy sciences. The journal helps promote solutions for the control and improvement of working conditions, and for the application of valuable research findings to the actual working environment.
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