A systematic review and bibliometric analysis of the process of human health risk assessment to microplastics exposure through seafood consumption

The variety of physical and chemical characteristics of microplastics in the environment has caused little research on assessing the health risks from exposure to microplastics. This article aims to review the steps for health risk assessment analysis of human health exposure to microplastics through the consumption of marine biota and provide an explanation of the extent to which health risk assessment research has been conducted. Article searches for this systematic review were conducted in three electronic databases: PubMed, Google Scholar, and Science Direct. The search term used was "health risk assessment for microplastics exposure" with three criteria: free full text, research article, and publication published in the years 20192023. Data base management was performed using Mendeley Desktop 1.19.8 and the articles were then analyzed bibliometrically using VOSviewer. A total of 203 articles were retrieved from the databases and 7 articles were eligible for the literature review. Risk assessments have not been widely conducted using health risk analysis procedures because there is no standard assessment of microplastic concentrations in biota. In addition, there is no specific reference dose for each microplastic polymer and the variety of physical characteristics, such as shape, color and size of microplastics, make it difficult to assess actual ingestion. A generally applicable approach to assessing human exposure to microplastics is needed. The approach should include a representative sampling procedure in the environment, a method to identify and calculate microplastic concentrations, a real-time ingestion assessment, and an assessment of specific health effects based on microplastic polymers.