Soriano, Joan B.Fu, MarcelaCastellano, YolandaAncochea, JulioFong, Geoffrey T.Fernández Muñoz, Esteve2023-01-312023-01-312023-01-012659-6636https://hdl.handle.net/2445/192810Dear Editor, During the initial waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, respiratory patients received confusing messages by several patient associations and the World Health Organization1, 2 to be exempted from wearing face masks. Allegedly, many assumed that difficult breathing through face masks might exacerbate their respiratory condition, producing asthma attacks or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations. In its December 2020 Interim Guidance on Mask use in the context of COVID-19, WHO cited studies suggesting that masks might have an adverse impact on respiratory disease patients, but they did not provide any guidance about whether respiratory disease patients should or should not wear masks; explicitly, it reads in page 10 of 22 the following paragraph and references:3 p.application/pdfengcc by-nc-nd (c) Sociedad Española de Neumología y Cirugía Torácica (SEPAR), 2022http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/COVID-19Malalties de l'aparell respiratoriEnquestesCOVID-19Respiratory diseasesSurveysinfo:eu-repo/semantics/article2023-01-30info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess