High levels of microplastics found in heart attack survivors

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/microplastic-blood-level-heart-attack-b3015045.html

People who survived a serious heart attack were found to have higher levels of tiny plastic particles in their blood, providing early evidence that plastic pollution could be an overlooked cardiovascular threat.

Researchers at the University of Campania in Italy also found that people who smoke and those exposed to higher levels of air pollution had greater levels of micro- and nanoplastics in their blood.
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Scientists detected micro- and nanoplastics – tiny plastic fragments that shed from packaging, clothing and other everyday products – in the blood supplying the heart in 84 per cent of heart attack patients studied. In comparison, only 40 per cent of patients with chronic ischemic heart disease and 32 per cent of patients with normal coronary arteries were found to have micro and nanoplastics, according to the study published in the European Heart Journal.

The team studied a small sample of 61 patients in Italy, recording whether each person smoked and how much air pollution they had been exposed to over the previous two years.
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