Death of heart diseases in the world linked to chemicals widely used in plastics

Daily exposure to certain chemicals used to manufacture plastic household items could be linked to more than 365,000 global deaths of heart disease in 2018, according to a new analysis of demographic surveys.

While chemicals, called phthalates, are widely used worldwide, in Africa, South Asia and the populations of the Middle East, a much larger share of the number of deaths than others – about half of the total.

For decades, experts have connected health problems to exposure to certain phthalates found in cosmetics, detergents, solvents, plastic pipes, bugs and other products. When these chemicals decompose into microscopic particles and are ingested, studies have linked them to an increased risk of conditions ranging from obesity and diabetes to fertility and cancer problems.

Directed by researchers from Nyu Langone Health, this study focused on a kind of phthalate called Di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), which is used to make food containers, medical equipment and other softer and flexible plastic. Exposure has been demonstrated in other studies to cause a hyperactive immune response (inflammation) in the arteries of the heart, which, over time, is associated with an increased risk of heart attack or stroke.

In their new analysis, the authors estimated that exposure to DEHP contributed to 368,764 deaths, more than 10% of all world mortality in heart disease in 2018 in men and women aged 55 to 64. A report on results is published in the review in the journal ebiomicine.

“By highlighting the link between phthalates and a cause of main death around the world, our results add to the vast proof that these chemicals have a huge danger to human health,” said Sara Hyman, BS, author of the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, author of the NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

According to the authors, the economic burden resulting in the deaths identified in their study was estimated at around $ 510 billion and may have reached 3.74 billions of dollars.

In a previous study of 2021, the research team has linked phthalates to more than 50,000 premature deaths each year, mainly heart disease, among older Americans. Their latest survey would be the first global estimate on the date of cardiovascular mortality – or in fact any result for health – resulting from exposure to chemicals, explains Hyman, who is also a graduate student at the Nyu School of Public Global Health.

For research, the team used data on health and the environment of dozens of demographic surveys to estimate exposure to DEHP in 200 countries and territories. Information included urine samples containing chemical degradation products left by the plastic additive. Mortality data has been obtained from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, a research group in the United States which collects medical information worldwide to identify public health trends.

Among the main results, the study has shown that losses in Africa and the Eastern and Middle East Asia Combined Asia have respectively explained 30% and 25% of the mortality of cardiac diseases linked to DEHP. More specifically, India had the count of the highest deaths at 39,677 deaths, followed by Pakistan and Egypt.

The greater risk of cardiac death in these populations were carried out even after the researchers adjusted their statistical analysis to take into account the size of the population within the age group studied.

A possible explanation, according to the authors, is that these countries face higher exposure rates with chemicals, perhaps because they undergo a boom in plastic production but with less manufacturing restrictions than other regions.

“There is a clear disparity in which parts of the world carry the weight of the increased cardiac risks of phthalates,” said Leonardo Trasande, MP, principal author of the study.

“Our results highlight the urgent need for global regulations in order to reduce exposure to these toxins, especially in the areas most affected by rapid industrialization and plastic consumption,” added Trasande, Jim G. Hendrick, MD, professor of pediatrics at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

TRASANDE, who is also a professor at the Ministry of Health of the Population, warns that the analysis has not been designed to establish that the DEHP has caused directly or only heart disease and that higher death risks have not taken into account other types of phthalates. Nor did it include mortality among other age groups. Consequently, the overall number of mortality by heart disease linked to these chemicals is probably much higher, he said.

TRASANDE says that researchers who then plan to follow how reductions in phthalates exposure can, over time, affect global mortality rates, as well as to extend the study to other health problems posed by chemicals, such as premature birth. TRASANDE is also director of the Environmental Pediatric Division of NYU Grossman School of Medicine and the Center for the Survey on Environmental Dangers.