The Emerging Link Between Microplastics and Heart Disease

“It’s very important work,” says Dr. Rocco Montone, an interventional cardiologist at Fondazione Policlinico Gemelli in Rome who was not involved in the study. “We have improved the management of coronary artery disease, reducing traditional cardiovascular risk factors such as dyslipidemia, diabetes, hypertension. But heart attacks still occur, because there is something else. There is something beyond the traditional risk factors.”

As research continues to explore how plastics may be one of those risk factors, an important next step will be establishing an accessible way to test for these substances. “At the moment, we cannot measure our exposure to plastics,” he says, beyond tests used in labs for research purposes. 

Instead, “we have to measure our exposure and try to reduce the exposure by limiting the use of plastics,” he says. At the moment, plastic production is projected to continue to grow over the next 20 years. “We have to reverse this process,” he says. “We are increasing our knowledge in this field, and we have to ask politicians to help us in our daily habits to reduce the exposure to this known risk factor.”