Story perspectives

84% of Heart Attack Patients Harbor Plastics; Smokers Sixfold Risk

7/15/2026

Summary

Barbato’s Team Finds

Prof. Emanuele Barbato’s team found micro- and nanoplastics in 84 % of STEMI patients and polyethylene in 97 % of positives.
All smokers with PM2.5 >= 15 µg/m³ had plastics, versus 12.5 % of low-pollution non-smokers, making smokers six times more likely to test positive.
Patients with plastics showed elevated IL-6 and TNF-?, prompting authors to call for cuts to pollution, tobacco and plastic waste, while critics warned the method may misidentify lipids as plastics.

Summary

Study Highlights Bias

The cross-sectional study measured microplastics and heart attacks simultaneously, preventing causal inference.
Over 70 % of STEMI and chronic coronary patients smoked, confounding the association.
The study failed to disclose selection and blinding methods and omitted social deprivation and diet, raising bias concerns.
IV infusions during treatment could add microplastics, suggesting reverse causation.
Global micro-plastic emissions of 10-40 million tonnes per year may double by 2040, prompting larger studies.

1 of 2

Barbato’s Team Finds

Prof. Emanuele Barbato’s team found micro- and nanoplastics in 84 % of STEMI patients and polyethylene in 97 % of positives.
All smokers with PM2.5 >= 15 µg/m³ had plastics, versus 12.5 % of low-pollution non-smokers, making smokers six times more likely to test positive.
Patients with plastics showed elevated IL-6 and TNF-?, prompting authors to call for cuts to pollution, tobacco and plastic waste, while critics warned the method may misidentify lipids as plastics.

1 / 2