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Global ecological analysis of dietary microplastic exposure and lip and oral cavity cancer incidence: analysis code and data

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) 2026
Shankargouda Patil, Shilpa Bhandi, Frank W. Licari

Summary

Researchers looked at data from 106 countries to see if eating more microplastics (tiny plastic bits that get into our food) is linked to higher rates of lip and mouth cancer. This is important groundwork for understanding whether the plastic in our food and water could be affecting our health, though this type of study can show a pattern exists without proving that microplastics actually cause cancer. More research on individuals (not just country-wide data) is needed to know for sure.

Analysis code and the harmonised country-level dataset for an ecological study of the association between estimated dietary microplastic exposure and age-standardized lip and oral cavity cancer incidence across 106 countries. The pipeline fits an adjusted ordinary least squares model with a restricted cubic spline for microplastic exposure, evaluates residual spatial autocorrelation (Moran's I), runs Anselin's Lagrange multiplier tests, and fits spatial lag, spatial error and spatial Durbin models, followed by sensitivity analyses. See README.md for the run order and data provenance.

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