ReviewAmbio2022
The potential effects of microplastics on human health: What is known and what is unknown.
Review in Ambio, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 75 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
75 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 423 citations in OpenAlex.
- Invisible invaders: unveiling the carcinogenic threat of microplastics and nanoplastics in colorectal cancer-a systematic review.Frontiers in public health · 2025Pooled it
- Occurrence, transport, and toxicity of microplastics in tropical food chains: perspectives view and way forward.Environmental geochemistry and health · 2024Pooled it
- Dietary Microplastic Exposure in Athletes: Implications for Metabolism, Gut Health, and Performance.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Environmental Exposure to Micro- and Nanoplastics: Linking Cardiovascular Disease and Cancer Through Shared Biological Pathways-A Critical Review.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Health Risks of Prenatal and Early-Life Microplastics Exposure: A Comprehensive Review.Environment & health (Washington, D.C.) · 2026Review
- Exploring Lemon Industry By-Products for Polyhydroxyalkanoate Production: Comparative Performances ofPolymers · 2026Article
- Microplastics amplify the pro-inflammatory response to fungal mycelial fragments and spores in neutrophil-like cells.Frontiers in toxicology · 2026Article
- Global prostate cancer risk associated with microplastic exposure: a statistical and machine learning analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Microplastics and Nanoplastics as Carriers for Viral Transmission: Effects on Viral Properties, Infection, Immune Response, and Public Health.Reviews in medical virology · 2026Review
- Microplastics and nanoplastics in clinical dentistry and orthodontics: leaching, health implications, and future directions: a narrative review.Progress in orthodontics · 2025Review
- Polystyrene Micro- and Nanoplastic Exposure Triggers an Activation and Stress Response in Human Astrocytes.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- How Problems with Microplastics in Research and Application Can be Overcome: Lessons From the Experience of Plastics Stakeholders.Global challenges (Hoboken, NJ) · 2025Article
- The role of ultra-processed food in obesity.Nature reviews. Endocrinology · 2025Review
- Review
- Deep Learning-Based Shape Classification for Hyperspectral-Imaged Microplastics.Analytical chemistry · 2025Article
- Environmental Insults to Glucose Metabolism: The Role of Pollutants in Insulin Resistance.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Assessing inhalation intake of microplastics using MPPD model.Environmental analysis, health and toxicology · 2025Article
- Association between Reusable Anesthesia Circuits and Hospital Waste Reduction, Cost Savings, and Environmental Impact: A Quality Improvement Study.Perioperative care and operating room management · 2025Article
- Comorbidity of hypertension and lung cancer: interplay of genetics and environment.Discover oncology · 2025Review
- Biomimetic layered, ecological, advanced, multi-functional film for sustainable packaging.Nature communications · 2025Article
15 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Microplastic contamination is ubiquitous in aquatic and terrestrial environments, found in water, sediments, within organisms and in the atmosphere and the biological effects on animal and plant life have been extensively investigated in recent years. There is growing evidence that humans are exposed to microplastics via ingestion of food and drink and through inhalation. Despite the prevalence of contamination, there has been limited research on the effects of microplastics on human health and most studies, to date, analyse the effects on model organisms with the likely impacts on human health being inferred by extrapolation. This review summarises the latest findings in the field with respect to the prevalence of microplastics in the human-environment, to what extent they might enter and persist in the body, and what effect, if any, they are likely to have on human health. Whilst definitive evidence linking microplastic consumption to human health is currently lacking, results from correlative studies in people exposed to high concentrations of microplastics, model animal and cell culture experiments, suggest that effects of microplastics could include provoking immune and stress responses and inducing reproductive and developmental toxicity. Further research is required to explore the potential implications of this recent contaminant in our environment in more rigorous clinical studies.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.