Exploring alternatives for detecting microplastics in the human body: questionnaire survey

Abstract

Microplastics (MPs) can enter the body via plastic products. Given modern plastic exposure, we seek to assess MP exposure in large populations through epidemiological tools. In this quasi-experimental study, every participant filled out a questionnaire, and those who satisfied any of the following requirements were not allowed to continue in the study: Diabetes, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, infectious diseases. Participants in the exposure and control groups were provided three hot meals in disposable plastic tableware (DPT) (n = 30) or non-DPT (n = 30), respectively. After a month of observation, individuals in the exposure group discontinued the three meals provided in DPT (n = 27) for 1 month as the post-exposure group. Each Participant in the three groups received a questionnaire survey and fecal sample collection. We compared the differences in MP levels between different groups and used the Bland–Altman analysis method to evaluate the consistency of the results obtained by different measurement methods. Statistically significant differences in the total quantity (P (0.80 matching degree) = 0.020; P (0.65 matching degree) < 0.001) and types (Polyethylene Terephthalate (EVA) (P = 0.039), Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) (P = 0.022), Polyvinyl Butyral (PVB) (P = 0.013), Chlorinated Polyethylene (CPE) (P = 0.039), phenolic epoxy resin (P = 0.012)) of MPs were observed between the exposure and post-exposure groups. The Bland–Altman analysis results indicate that the two methods exhibit good consistency in the three groups (control group: mean difference = 0.54, agreement limits (95% CI) = − 0.44 ~ 1.54; exposure group: mean difference = 0.41, agreement limits (95% CI) = − 0.19 ~ 1.01; post-exposure group: mean difference = 0.19, agreement limits (95% CI) = − 0.63 ~ 1.02). The method based on questionnaire surveys can substitute the method of fecal sample detection to evaluate the exposure of MP particles.