Particle Size-Selective Assessment of Protection of European Standard FFP Respirators and Surgical Masks against Particles-Tested with Human Subjects

Table 2

Protection factors of 6 FFP respirators and 3 surgical masks (SMs). Total observations are 30 (30 subjects).

FFP1_A

FFP2_A

FFP3_A

FFP1_B

FFP2_B

FFP3_B

SM_C

SM_D

SM_E

Total FFP1

Total FFP2

Total FFP3

Total SM

The fifth percentile

5.0

6.5

13.5

6.4

8.1

6.1

1.2

1.3

1.3

5.3

6.7

6.1

1.2

GM ± GSD; (all subjects)

24.1 ± 2.5

23.4 ± 2.5

31.9 ± 3.0

15.9 ± 2.4

31.4 ± 2.8

22.6 ± 3.1

1.7 ± 1.3

1.5 ± 1.2

1.8 ± 1.3

19.6 ± 2.5

27.1 ± 2.7

26.7 ± 3.1

1.7 ± 1.3

GM ± GSD; (pass fit test)

26.6 ± 2.5

30.0 ± 2.3

46.5 ± 3.1

23.7 ± 2.4

31.6 ± 2.7

30.8 ± 3.0

25.5 ± 2.5

30.9 ± 2.5

37.6 ± 3.1

The fifth percentile was calculated only for subjects passing the fit test with FFP respirators. Because no subjects passed the fit test for surgical masks, the fifth percentile was calculated for all subjects wearing surgical masks (). GM refers to the geometric mean of PF data; GSD refers to the geometric standard deviation of PF data.