Microplastics found in smokers’ blood, raising heart attack concerns: Study

Tiny plastic particles may be entering the bloodstream at significantly higher levels in smokers and people exposed to heavy air pollution, raising fresh concerns about an overlooked cardiovascular risk, a new study has found.

Researchers from Sapienza University of Rome, the University of Verona and the University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli detected microplastics and nanoplastics in blood samples taken directly from the arteries supplying the heart of 61 patients.

The study, published in the European Heart Journal, divided the participants into three groups: patients who had recently suffered a heart attack, those with cardiovascular disease but no recent heart attack, and people with healthy blood vessels.

Plastic particles were detected in 84 percent of patients who had recently suffered a heart attack, compared with 40 percent of those with heart disease but no heart attack and 32 percent of participants with healthy vessels.

The particles also appeared more diverse among heart-attack patients. Polyethylene, widely used in packaging and everyday consumer products, was detected in almost all participants in whom plastic particles were found.

One of the study’s most striking findings involved smoking and air pollution.

Researchers estimated that smokers were nearly six times more likely than non-smokers to have high levels of microplastics in their blood. Long-term exposure to heavily polluted air was associated with a similar pattern.

The combination appeared particularly concerning. All participants who both smoked and lived with high levels of air pollution had elevated concentrations of microplastics, compared with just 12.5 percent of people without either exposure.

Lead author Pasquale Paoliso said smoking may provide a pathway for plastic particles inhaled into the lungs to enter the bloodstream. Air pollution could potentially contribute through a similar mechanism.

However, senior researcher Emanuele Barbato stressed that the findings do not prove that microplastics cause heart attacks.

Instead, the study points to a strong association between environmental plastic exposure, the presence of plastic particles in the bloodstream and cardiovascular disease, he said.

In an accompanying editorial, researchers led by Andreas Daiber of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz described plastic pollution as a potentially overlooked cardiovascular risk.

They acknowledged that the study involved only a small number of patients but said its findings provide early clinical evidence of a possible link between plastic particles and acute cardiovascular events.

Microplastics and nanoplastics are now widespread in the environment, making exposure difficult to avoid entirely. Yet scientists caution that much remains unknown about how these particles move through the human body and whether they directly contribute to cardiovascular damage.

Because the study involved only 61 patients, larger and longer-term studies will be needed to determine whether microplastics are merely associated with heart disease or play a direct role in triggering heart attacks.

For now, the findings add another warning to the growing body of evidence surrounding the health consequences of smoking, air pollution and the increasingly pervasive presence of plastic in everyday life.