Plastic Debris in Carotid Plaque Linked to CV Events: Daily Dose

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Patient Care brings primary care clinicians a lot of medical news every day—it’s easy to miss an important study. The Daily Dose provides a concise summary of one of the website's leading stories you may not have seen.

Last week, we reported on findings from a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine that examined whether microplastics and nanoplastics (MNPs) are detectable within atherosclerotic plaque and whether the burden of MNPs is associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD).

The study

Investigators conducted the prospective, multicenter, observational study of patients with asymptomatic carotid artery disease undergoing carotid endarterectomy. The primary endpoint was a composite of myocardial infarction (MI), stroke, and death from any cause.

Researchers enrolled 304 participants, of whom 257 completed a mean follow-up of 33.7 months. They detected polyethylene in carotid artery plaque of 58.4% of patients (n=150; mean level, 21.7 μg/mL of plaque), and “measurable amounts” of polyvinyl chloride in plaque of 12.1% of patients (n=31; mean level, 5.2 μg/mL of plaque).

The findings

Results showed participants in whom MNPs were detected within the atheroma were at a higher risk of the primary endpoint event (composite of MI, stroke, all-cause death) than those in whom no MNPs were detected (HR 4.53, 95% CI 2.00-10.27; P < .001).

Authors' comment

"In this study, patients with carotid artery plaque in which MNPs were detected had a higher risk of a composite of myocardial infarction, stroke, or death from any cause at 34 months of follow-up than those in whom MNPs were not detected."

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