Microplastics found to increase risk of serious outcomes for heart patients
This sounds like a pretty serious issue — “from a prospective study in today’s New England Journal of Medicine: among 257 patients undergoing a surgical carotid endarterectomy procedure (taking out atherosclerotic plaque) with complete follow-up, 58% had microplastics and nanoplastics (MNPs) in their plaque and their presence was linked to a subsequent 4.5 -fold increase of the composite of all-cause mortality, heart attack and stroke […] during 34 month follow-up. [….] The new study takes the worry about micronanoplastics to a new level—getting into our arteries and exacerbating the process of atherosclerosis, the leading global killer— and demands urgent attention.” (via Eric Topol)
(tags: microplastics plastic sustainability health medicine atherosclerosis papers via:eric-topol)