Silke Schwarz1, Ekkehart Jenetzky1,2, Hanno Krafft1, Tobias Maurer1, David Martin1,3. 1. Fakultät für Gesundheit/Department für Humanmedizin, Universität Witten/Herdecke, Witten/Herdecke, Deutschland. 2. Klinik und Poliklinik für Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrie und -psychotherapie, Universitätsmedizin Mainz, Mainz, Deutschland. 3. Universitätsklinik für Kinder- und Jugendmedizin, Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Deutschland.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Narratives about complaints in children and adolescents caused by wearing a mask are accumulating. There is, to date, no registry for side effects of masks. METHODS: In the context of the www.co-ki.de multi-study complex, an online registry has been set up where parents, doctors, pedagogues and others can enter their observations. On 20 October 2020, 363 doctors were asked to make entries and to make parents and teachers aware of the registry. RESULTS: By 26 October 2020, a total of 20,353 people had taken part in the survey. The group of parents alone entered data on a total of 25,930 children. The average reported wearing time of masks was 270 min per day. Of the respondents 68% reported that children complained about impairments caused by wearing the mask. Side effects included irritability (60%), headache (53%), difficulty concentrating (50%), less happiness (49%), reluctance to go to school/kindergarten (44%), malaise (42%) impaired learning (38%) and drowsiness/fatigue (37%). DISCUSSION: This world's first registry for recording the effects of wearing masks in children is dedicated to a new research question. A bias with respect to the preferential documentation of particularly severely affected children or persons who are fundamentally critical of protective measures cannot be ruled out.The frequency of use and the spectrum of symptoms registered indicate the importance of the topic and call for representative surveys, randomized controlled trials with various masks and a renewed risk-benefit assessment of mask obligation in the vulnerable group of children.
BACKGROUND: Narratives about complaints in children and adolescents caused by wearing a mask are accumulating. There is, to date, no registry for side effects of masks. METHODS: In the context of the www.co-ki.de multi-study complex, an online registry has been set up where parents, doctors, pedagogues and others can enter their observations. On 20 October 2020, 363 doctors were asked to make entries and to make parents and teachers aware of the registry. RESULTS: By 26 October 2020, a total of 20,353 people had taken part in the survey. The group of parents alone entered data on a total of 25,930 children. The average reported wearing time of masks was 270 min per day. Of the respondents 68% reported that children complained about impairments caused by wearing the mask. Side effects included irritability (60%), headache (53%), difficulty concentrating (50%), less happiness (49%), reluctance to go to school/kindergarten (44%), malaise (42%) impaired learning (38%) and drowsiness/fatigue (37%). DISCUSSION: This world's first registry for recording the effects of wearing masks in children is dedicated to a new research question. A bias with respect to the preferential documentation of particularly severely affected children or persons who are fundamentally critical of protective measures cannot be ruled out.The frequency of use and the spectrum of symptoms registered indicate the importance of the topic and call for representative surveys, randomized controlled trials with various masks and a renewed risk-benefit assessment of mask obligation in the vulnerable group of children.
Authors: Jakob Peter Armann; Natalie Diffloth; Arne Simon; Maren Doenhardt; Markus Hufnagel; Andreas Trotter; Dominik Schneider; Johannes Hübner; Reinhard Berner Journal: Dtsch Arztebl Int Date: 2020-05-22 Impact factor: 5.594
Authors: Dirk Mürbe; Martin Kriegel; Julia Lange; Lukas Schumann; Anne Hartmann; Mario Fleischer Journal: PLoS One Date: 2021-02-10 Impact factor: 3.240
Authors: Rachael Wood; Emma Thomson; Robert Galbraith; Ciara Gribben; David Caldwell; Jennifer Bishop; Martin Reid; Anoop S V Shah; Kate Templeton; David Goldberg; Chris Robertson; Sharon J Hutchinson; Helen M Colhoun; Paul M McKeigue; David A McAllister Journal: Arch Dis Child Date: 2021-03-18 Impact factor: 3.791
Authors: Ramanan Laxminarayan; Brian Wahl; Shankar Reddy Dudala; K Gopal; Chandra Mohan B; S Neelima; K S Jawahar Reddy; J Radhakrishnan; Joseph A Lewnard Journal: Science Date: 2020-09-30 Impact factor: 47.728
Authors: Kai Kisielinski; Paul Giboni; Andreas Prescher; Bernd Klosterhalfen; David Graessel; Stefan Funken; Oliver Kempski; Oliver Hirsch Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2021-04-20 Impact factor: 3.390
Authors: Suzie Kratzer; Lisa M Pfadenhauer; Renke L Biallas; Robin Featherstone; Carmen Klinger; Ani Movsisyan; Julia E Rabe; Julia Stadelmaier; Eva Rehfuess; Katharina Wabnitz; Ben Verboom Journal: Cochrane Database Syst Rev Date: 2022-06-06
Authors: Harald Walach; Helmut Traindl; Juliane Prentice; Ronald Weikl; Andreas Diemer; Anna Kappes; Stefan Hockertz Journal: Environ Res Date: 2022-05-28 Impact factor: 8.431
Authors: Harald Walach; Ronald Weikl; Juliane Prentice; Andreas Diemer; Helmut Traindl; Anna Kappes; Stefan Hockertz Journal: JAMA Pediatr Date: 2021-06-30 Impact factor: 26.796
Authors: Stephanie Lange; Claire-Marie Altrock; Emily Gossmann; Jörg M Fegert; Andreas Jud Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2022-06-21 Impact factor: 4.614
Authors: Anne Schlegtendal; Lynn Eitner; Michael Falkenstein; Anna Hoffmann; Thomas Lücke; Kathrin Sinningen; Folke Brinkmann Journal: Children (Basel) Date: 2022-01-11
Authors: Alice Freiberg; Katy Horvath; Taurai Monalisa Hahne; Stephanie Drössler; Daniel Kämpf; Anke Spura; Bernhard Buhs; Nadine Reibling; Freia De Bock; Christian Apfelbacher; Andreas Seidler Journal: Bundesgesundheitsblatt Gesundheitsforschung Gesundheitsschutz Date: 2021-10-25 Impact factor: 1.513