Researchers find microplastics in blood of heart attack patients

3 min read

Italian researchers analyzed coronary artery blood from 61 patients undergoing angiograms and detected micro- and nanoplastics in nearly 84% of patients with active severe heart attacks, versus 40% with chronic heart disease and 32% with normal arteries. Polyethylene appeared in 97% of positive samples. The study, published in the European Heart Journal, is observational and from a single country, so it does not prove causation and may be affected by confounders such as smoking and air pollution, but it could prompt additional research and public health attention to plastic exposure.

Micro- and nanoplastics detected in coronary blood of many heart attack patients