A landmark study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has found that patients with detectable levels of microplastics or nanoplastics in their carotid artery plaques had significantly higher rates of heart attack, stroke, and cardiovascular death over a four-year follow-up period than comparable patients with clean plaques. The research provides the first direct clinical evidence linking microplastic exposure to specific cardiovascular outcomes in humans.
The finding has intensified already growing scientific concern about the ubiquity of microplastic contamination in the human body. Previous research has detected microplastics in lung tissue, blood, placenta, breast milk, and testicles. The cardiovascular study design does not establish causation, as microplastic-containing plaques may differ from clean plaques in other ways that explain the outcome difference. A randomized trial to definitively establish causation is not feasible given the impossibility of a microplastic-free control condition in today's environment.
