Daily exposure to certain chemicals used to make plastic household items could be linked to more than 356,000 global deaths from heart disease in 2018 alone, a new analysis of population surveys shows. While the chemicals, called phthalates, are in widespread use globally, the Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, and the Pacific bore a much larger share of the death toll than others — about three-fourths of the total.

An automated machine learning program developed by researchers from Edith Cowan University (ECU) in conjunction with the University of Manitoba has been able to identify potential cardiovascular incidents or fall and fracture risks based on bone density scans taken during routine clinical testing.