Figures and Data (best viewed on desktop)

Research Finding: People with high exposure to BPA have been found to be 1.2 times more likely to be diagnosed with cardiovascular disease than people with low exposure.

What is BPA? Bisphenol A (BPA) is an industrial chemical used to make certain plastics and resins. It's commonly found in food containers, water bottles, and thermal paper receipts.

Health Implications: This association suggests that BPA exposure may be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, highlighting the importance of reducing exposure to this chemical when possible.

Harvest plots are used to visualize the effect of exposure to plastic chemicals on health outcomes. Health outcomes are shown in the title on top, plastic chemicals are shown on the x-axis and are grouped into 5 categories:

Each bar represents the results from an individual meta-analysis. The height of the bar represents the quality score of the review assessed using the AMSTAR tool. Low quality reflects a score of 1-5, medium of 6-8, and high of 9-11. Bars have been assigned as an increase or decrease (columns) in the measure where the change is statistically significant. Remaining bars appearing under ‘no change’ indicate direction of effect as an increase (>), no clear trend (-) (the estimate of relative risk was 1 or regression coefficient or mean difference was 0), or decrease (<) in the measure. Hover over each bar for additional information on the publication source and quantitative findings. Click on “Show data” for additional information for each meta-analysis, including the link to the source publication.