Maternal coffee drinking in pregnancy and risk of small for gestational age birth

OBJECTIVE: We have analysed the association between coffee drinking before and during the three trimesters of pregnancy and risk of small for gestational age (SGA) birth. METHODS: Cases were 555 women who delivered SGA births (ie <10th percentile according Italian standard). The controls included 1966 women who gave birth at term (>/=37 weeks of gestation) to healthy infants of normal weight. RESULTS: In comparison with nondrinkers, the ORs for SGA birth were 1.3 (95% confidence interval, CI, 0.9-1.9) for consumption of four or more cups of coffee/day before pregnancy, and 1.2 (95% CI 0.8-1.8), 1.2 (95% CI 0.8-1.8) and 0.9 (95% CI 0.6-1.4) for consumption of three or more cups of coffee/day during the first, second and third trimester of pregnancy, respectively. CONCLUSION: These findings were consistent in women who delivered preterm and at term births and were not affected by potential confounding such as smoking.     

Coffee, tea, and caffeine consumption and breast cancer incidence in a cohort of Swedish women.

PURPOSE: Coffee, caffeinated tea, and caffeine have been suggested to play a role in breast carcinogenesis or in the promotion or inhibition of tumor growth. Prior epidemiologic evidence has not supported an overall association between consumption of caffeinated beverages and risk of breast cancer, but consumption in some studies was low. METHODS: We studied this relation in the Swedish Mammography Screening Cohort, a large population-based prospective cohort study in Sweden comprising 59,036 women aged 40-76 years. Sweden has the highest coffee consumption per capita in the world. RESULTS: During 508,267 person-years of follow-up, 1271 cases of invasive breast cancer were diagnosed. Women who reported drinking 4 or more cups of coffee per day had a covariate-adjusted hazard ratio of breast cancer of 0.94 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.75-1.28] compared to women who reported drinking 1 cup a week or less. The corresponding hazard ratio for tea consumption was 1.13 (95% CI 0.91-1.40). Similarly, women in the highest quintile of self-reported caffeine intake had a hazard ratio of beast cancer of 1.04 (95% CI 0.87-1.24) compared to women in the lowest quintile. CONCLUSIONS: In this large cohort of Swedish women, consumption of coffee, tea, and caffeine was not associated with breast cancer incidence.     

Coffee consumption and risk of stroke: a dose-response meta-analysis of prospective studies

Coffee consumption has been inconsistently associated with risk of stroke. The authors conducted a meta-analysis of prospective studies to quantitatively assess the association between coffee consumption and stroke risk. Pertinent studies were identified by searching PubMed and Embase from January 1966 through May 2011 and by reviewing the reference lists of retrieved articles. Prospective studies in which investigators reported relative risks of stroke for 3 or more categories of coffee consumption were eligible. Results from individual studies were pooled using a random-effects model. Eleven prospective studies, with 10,003 cases of stroke and 479,689 participants, met the inclusion criteria. There was some evidence of a nonlinear association between coffee consumption and risk of stroke (P for nonlinearity = 0.005). Compared with no coffee consumption, the relative risks of stroke were 0.86 (95% confidence interval (95% CI): 0.78, 0.94) for 2 cups of coffee per day, 0.83 (95% CI: 0.74, 0.92) for 3-4 cups/day, 0.87 (95% CI: 0.77, 0.97) for 6 cups/day, and 0.93 (95% CI: 0.79, 1.08) for 8 cups/day. There was marginal between-study heterogeneity among study-specific trends (I? = 12% and I? = 20% for the first and second spline transformations, respectively). Findings from this meta-analysis indicate that moderate coffee consumption may be weakly inversely associated with risk of stroke.     

Associations between black tea and coffee consumption and risk of lung cancer among current and former smokers

Although cigarette smoking is a clear risk factor for lung cancer, the other determinants of lung cancer risk among smokers are less clear. Tea and coffee contain catechins and flavonoids, which have been shown to exhibit anticarcinogenic properties. Conversely, caffeine may elevate cancer risk through a variety of mechanisms. The current study investigated the effects of regular consumption of black tea and coffee on lung cancer risk among 993 current and former smokers with primary incident lung cancer and 986 age-, sex-, and smoking-matched hospital controls with non-neoplastic conditions. Results indicated that lung cancer risk was not different for those with the highest black tea consumption (>or=2 cups/day) compared with nondrinkers of tea [adjusted odds ratio (aOR)=0.90; 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.66-1.24]. However, elevated lung cancer risk was observed for participants who consumed 2-3 cups of regular coffee daily (aOR=1.34; 95% CI=0.99-1.82) or >or=4 cups of regular coffee daily (aOR=1.51, 95% CI=1.11-2.05). In contrast, decaffeinated coffee drinking was associated with decreased lung cancer risk for both participants who consumed or=2 cups/day (aOR=0.64; 95% CI=0.51-0.80). These results suggest that any chemoprotective effects of phytochemicals in coffee and tea may be overshadowed by the elevated risk associated with caffeine in these beverages.     

Effect of maternal smoking and coffee consumption on the risk of having a recognized Down syndrome pregnancy

To evaluate the possible effects of maternal smoking and caffeine or coffee consumption on the occurrence of a recognized pregnancy with Down syndrome, the authors analyzed data from a case-control study of 997 liveborn infants or fetuses with Down syndrome ascertained in California from 1991 to 1993 and 1,007 liveborn controls without a birth defect. Interviews with mothers covered demographic information, pregnancy, and medical history, with detailed questions on the use of tobacco, alcohol, and caffeinated beverages. All analyses were age-adjusted. High alcohol consumption (> or =4 drinks/week) in the first month of pregnancy was associated with reduced risk for a recognized Down syndrome conceptus (odds ratio (OR) = 0.54; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.34, 0.85). Maternal smoking during the periconceptional period was not associated with risk of recognized Down syndrome (OR = 1.04; 95% CI: 0.79, 1.37), but maternal consumption of four or more cups of coffee per day was inversely associated (OR = 0.63; 95% CI: 0.41, 0.96). In multivariate analysis, a significant interaction between coffee drinking and smoking was observed. The inverse association remained only for nonsmoking mothers who drank four or more cups of coffee per day (OR = 0.48; 95% CI: 0.28, 0.82). These results suggest that among nonsmoking mothers, high coffee consumption is more likely to reduce the viability of a Down syndrome conceptus than that of a normal conceptus.     

Consumption of coffee is associated with reduced risk of death attributed to inflammatory and cardiovascular diseases in the Iowa Women's Health Study

BACKGROUND: Coffee is the major source of dietary antioxidants. The association between coffee consumption and risk of death from diseases associated with inflammatory or oxidative stress has not been studied. OBJECTIVE: We studied the relation of coffee drinking with total mortality and mortality attributed to cardiovascular disease, cancer, and other diseases with a major inflammatory component. DESIGN: A total of 41,836 postmenopausal women aged 55-69 y at baseline were followed for 15 y. After exclusions for cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, colitis, and liver cirrhosis at baseline, 27,312 participants remained, resulting in 410,235 person-years of follow-up and 4265 deaths. The major outcome measure was disease-specific mortality. RESULTS: In the fully adjusted model, similar to the relation of coffee intake to total mortality, the hazard ratio of death attributed to cardiovascular disease was 0.76 (95% CI: 0.64, 0.91) for consumption of 1-3 cups/d, 0.81 (95% CI: 0.66, 0.99) for 4-5 cups/d, and 0.87 (95% CI: 0.69, 1.09) for > or =6 cups/d. The hazard ratio for death from other inflammatory diseases was 0.72 (95% CI: 0.55, 0.93) for consumption of 1-3 cups/d, 0.67 (95% CI: 0.50, 0.90) for 4-5 cups/d, and 0.68 (95% CI: 0.49, 0.94) for > or =6 cups/d. CONCLUSIONS: Consumption of coffee, a major source of dietary antioxidants, may inhibit inflammation and thereby reduce the risk of cardiovascular and other inflammatory diseases in postmenopausal women.     

A dose-response meta-analysis of coffee consumption and bladder cancer

Background

A number of studies have examined the association between coffee consumption and risk of bladder cancer, but uncertainty about the dose-response relationship remains.

Materials and methods

A comprehensive search was performed to identify all observational studies providing quantitative estimates between bladder cancer risk and coffee consumption. Dose-response relationship was assessed by restricted cubic spline model and bivariate random-effect meta-regression.

Results

23 case-control studies with 7690 cases and 13,507 controls, and 5 cohort studies with 700 cases and 229,099 participants, met the inclusion criteria. Compared with non-drinkers and for case-control studies, the pooled smoking-adjusted RRs(95% CI) of bladder cancer were 1.07(1.02-1.13) for 1 cup/day, 1.15(1.05-1.26) for 2 cups/day, 1.22(1.08-1.38) for 3 cups/day, and 1.29(1.12-1.48) for 4 cups/day. For cohort studies, the pooled smoking-adjusted RRs of bladder cancer were 1.09(95% CI, 0.89-1.34) for 1 cup/day, 1.13(95% CI, 0.82-1.55) for 2 cups/day, 1.09(95% CI, 0.77-1.56) for 3 cups/day, and 1.01(95% CI, 0.69-1.48) for 4 cups/day.

Conclusions

Although data from case-control studies suggested that coffee was a risk factor for bladder cancer, there was no conclusive evidence on this association because of inconsistencies between case-control and cohort studies.     

Coffee consumption and the incidence of antihypertensive drug treatment in Finnish men and women

BACKGROUND: Only 2 prospective studies have previously investigated the association between coffee consumption and incident hypertension, and the findings are equivocal. OBJECTIVE: The objective was to determine the relation between coffee consumption and the incidence of antihypertensive drug treatment. DESIGN: We prospectively followed 24 710 Finnish subjects aged 25-64 y without a history of antihypertensive drug treatment, coronary heart disease, or stroke at baseline. Daily coffee consumption was assessed by questionnaires. RESULTS: During a mean follow-up period of 13.2 y, 2505 participants started antihypertensive drug treatment. The multivariate-adjusted (age, sex, study year, education, leisure-time physical activity, smoking, body mass index, high total cholesterol, history of diabetes, and alcohol, tea, fruit, vegetable, sausage, and bread consumption) hazard ratios for antihypertensive drug treatment associated with the amount of coffee consumed daily (0-1, 2-3, 4-5, 6-7, or >or=8 cups) were 1.00, 1.29 (95% CI: 1.09, 1.54), 1.26 (95% CI: 1.06, 1.49), 1.24 (95% CI: 1.04, 1.48), and 1.14 (95% CI: 0.94, 1.37) (P for trend = 0.024), respectively. This trend became marginally significant after additional adjustment for baseline systolic blood pressure (P for trend = 0.077). CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that coffee drinking seems to increase the risk of antihypertensive drug treatment, and this risk was higher in subjects with low-to-moderate coffee intakes; however, there was no significantly increased trend in drinkers of approximately 1 cup (100 mL)/d or >or=8 cups/d.     

Risk factors for laryngeal cancer in Montenegro

Laryngeal cancer is the most common head and neck cancer. There might be many risk factors for laryngeal cancer. Smoking, especially cigarette smoking and alcohol are indisputable risk factors. The authors of this paper assessed the presumed risk factors in order to identify possible aetiological agents of the disease.A hospital-based case-control study was conducted. The study group consisted of 108 histologically verified laryngeal cancer patients and 108 hospital controls matched by sex, age (+/-3 years) and place of residence. Laryngeal cancer patients and controls were interviewed during their hospital stay using a structured questionnaire. According to multiple logistic regression analysis six variables were independently related to laryngeal cancer: hard liquor consumption (Odd Ratio/OR/=2.93, Confidence Interval/CI/95% = 1.17 to 7.31), consumption more than 2 alcoholic drinks per day (OR=4.96, CI 95% = 2.04 to 12.04), cigarette smoking for more than 40 years (OR=4.32, CI 95% = 1.69 to 11.06), smoking more than 30 cigarettes per day (OR=4.24, CI 95% = 1.75 to 10.27), coffee consumption more than 5 cups per day (OR=4.52, CI 95% = 1.01 to 20.12) and carbonated beverage consumption (OR=0.38, CI 95%=0.16 to 0.92). The great majority of laryngeal cancers could be prevented by eliminating tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption.     

Are there associations between coffee consumption and glucose tolerance in elderly subjects?

OBJECTIVE: To describe the associations between coffee consumption and glucose tolerance among elderly subjects. DESIGN: A survey among an unselected non-institutionalized elderly population. Diabetes was assessed on the basis of self-reports and 2-h oral glucose tolerance test for the subjects on diet treatment or with normal glucose tolerance (NGT). Coffee consumption was assessed by a questionnaire. SETTING: Three municipalities in Northern Finland Subjects: All non-institutionalized subjects with baseline normal glucose tolerance or impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) aged 70 years or over. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Incidence, persistence or impairment of abnormal glucose tolerance (AGT). RESULTS: Forty-two percent of those with NGT and 0-5 cups of coffee daily developed AGT, whereas the corresponding figure was 25% for those who drank more than five cups coffee daily. Fifty-five percent of the subjects with IGT or NGT who drank 0-5 cups coffee daily either persisted in IGT or developed AGT. The corresponding figure was 30% for those drinking more than five cups coffee daily. After adjustment for age, body mass index, cardiovascular disease, smoking, alcohol consumption and physical exercise, among those with NGT, the odds ratio (OR) for developing AGT was 2.3 for those drinking 0-5 cups compared to those drinking more than five cups of coffee daily (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.7-7.2). Correspondingly, low coffee consumption was the most powerful predictor associated with the persistence of IGT or the development of AGT (OR 2.9; 95% CI 1.2-6.9). CONCLUSIONS: Low coffee consumption predicts impairment of AGT or persistence of IGT among elderly subjects.     

Association of Coffee Consumption and Its Types According to Addition of Sugar and Creamer with Metabolic Syndrome Incidence in a Korean Population from the Health Examinees (HEXA) Study

Coffee is widely consumed worldwide, and numerous studies indicate that coffee consumption may potentially affect the development of chronic diseases. Metabolic syndrome (MetS) may constitute a risk factor for chronic diseases. We aimed to prospectively evaluate the association between coffee consumption and MetS incidence. All participants were selected from the Health Examinees study. MetS was defined by the Adult Treatment Panel III criteria of the National Cholesterol Education Program. A multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to assess the relationship between coffee consumption and MetS incidence. In comparison with non-consumers, male moderate consumers (≤3 cups/day) showed a lower risk for low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (≤1 cup/day, hazard ratio (HR): 0.445, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.254–0.780; 1–3 cups/day, HR: 0.507, 95% CI: 0.299–0.859) and high fasting blood glucose (FPG) (≤1 cup/day, HR: 0.694, 95% CI: 0.538–0.895; 1–3 cups/day, HR: 0.763, 95% CI: 0.598–0.972). Male 3-in-1 coffee (coffee with sugar and creamer) consumers also showed a lower risk for low HDL-C (HR: 0.423, 95% CI: 0.218–0.824) and high FPG (HR: 0.659, 95% CI: 0.497–0.874). These findings indicate a negative association between moderate coffee consumption and low HDL-C and high FPG among Korean male adults.     

Caffeinated coffee, decaffeinated coffee and endometrial cancer risk: a prospective cohort study among US postmenopausal women

There is plausible biological evidence as well as epidemiologic evidence to suggest coffee consumption may lower endometrial cancer risk. We evaluated the associations between self-reported total coffee, caffeinated coffee and decaffeinated coffee, and endometrial cancer risk using the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study Research Materials obtained from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Biological Specimen and Data Repository Coordinating Center. Our primary analyses included 45,696 women and 427 incident endometrial cancer cases, diagnosed over a total of 342,927 person-years of follow-up. We used Cox-proportional hazard models to evaluate coffee consumption and endometrial cancer risk. Overall, we did not find an association between coffee consumption and endometrial cancer risk. Compared to non-daily drinkers (none or <1 cup/day), the multivariable adjusted hazard ratios for women who drank ≥4 cups/day were 0.86 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.63, 1.18) for total coffee, 0.89 (95% CI 0.63, 1.27) for caffeinated coffee, and 0.51 (95% CI 0.25, 1.03) for decaf coffee. In subgroup analyses by body mass index (BMI) there were no associations among normal-weight and overweight women for total coffee and caffeinated coffee. However among obese women, compared to the referent group (none or <1 cup/day), the hazard ratios for women who drank ≥2 cups/day were: 0.72 (95% CI 0.50, 1.04) for total coffee and 0.66 (95% CI 0.45, 0.97) for caffeinated coffee. Hazard ratios for women who drank ≥2 cups/day for decaffeinated coffee drinkers were 0.67 (0.43-1.06), 0.93 (0.55-1.58) and 0.80 (0.49-1.30) for normal, overweight and obese women, respectively. Our study suggests that caffeinated coffee consumption may be associated with lower endometrial cancer risk among obese postmenopausal women, but the association with decaffeinated coffee remains unclear.     

Alcohol intake, drinking patterns, and risk of prostate cancer in a large prospective cohort study

Alcohol drinking has been extensively studied in relation to prostate cancer, yet findings on the direction of the association are equivocal. Previous studies have not examined drinking patterns. Thus, the authors prospectively evaluated the associations between these factors and risk of incident prostate cancer (n = 2,479) in a cohort study of 47,843 US men (1986-1998). The men completed a questionnaire at baseline that included information on consumption of specific types of alcohol and frequency of use. The authors estimated hazard ratios using Cox proportional hazards regression for average alcohol intake and number of days per week on which alcohol was consumed stratified by average weekly intake (<105 g/week vs. > or = 105 g/week). Compared with nondrinking, the hazard ratio for consumption increased slightly from an average of 5.0-14.9 g/day (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.05, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.94, 1.18) to 30.0-49.9 g/day (HR = 1.13, 95% CI: 0.96, 1.33), but it was not increased at > or = 50 g/day (HR = 1.00, 95% CI: 0.77, 1.31) after adjustment for recent smoking and other factors. Compared with abstainers, risk was greatest among men who consumed an average of > or = 105 g/week but who drank on only 1-2 days per week (HR = 1.64, 95% CI: 1.13, 2.38). These results suggest that moderate or greater alcohol consumption is not a strong contributor to prostate cancer risk, except possibly in men who consume large amounts infrequently.     

Cigarettes, coffee, and preterm premature rupture of the membranes.

Premature (prior to 37 completed weeks of gestation) rupture of the membranes (preterm PROM) is one of the most common underlying causes of preterm delivery. However, there have been few epidemiologic studies of this obstetric complication. The authors studied the relation of maternal cigarette smoking and coffee consumption to both preterm PROM and spontaneous preterm labor not complicated by premature rupture of the membranes (preterm NONPROM) in a large cross-sectional data base. The 307 preterm PROM and 488 preterm NONPROM cases who delivered during 1977-1980 at the Boston Hospital for Women were compared with 2,252 randomly selected women who delivered at term at that institution. Multiple logistic regression techniques were used to derive maximum likelihood estimates of adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). After confounders had been adjusted for, the relative risk of preterm PROM for women who reported ever having smoked during pregnancy, as compared with nonsmokers, was 1.6 (95% CI 1.1-2.4). However, no gradient between the number of cigarettes smoked per day and the risk of preterm PROM was observed. Similar results were observed for preterm NONPROM. Women who consumed three or more cups of coffee daily during the first trimester had a 2.2-fold greater risk of preterm PROM than did women who drank two or fewer cups (95% CI 1.5-3.3). Among coffee drinkers, there was some evidence of a linear trend in the risk of preterm PROM as coffee consumption increased. Consumption of three or more cups of coffee per day was less strongly associated with the occurrence of preterm NONPROM (adjusted OR = 1.4, 95% CI 1.0-1.9).     

Coffee and fetal death: a cohort study with prospective data

The authors conducted a cohort study within the Danish National Birth Cohort to determine whether coffee consumption during pregnancy is associated with late fetal death (spontaneous abortion and stillbirth). A total of 88,482 pregnant women recruited from March 1996 to November 2002 participated in a comprehensive interview on coffee consumption and potentially confounding factors in pregnancy. Information on pregnancy outcome was obtained from the National Hospital Discharge Register and medical records. The authors detected 1,102 fetal deaths. High levels of coffee consumption were associated with an increased risk of fetal death. Relative to nonconsumers of coffee, the adjusted hazard ratios for fetal death associated with coffee consumption of 1/2-3, 4-7, and > or =8 cups of coffee per day were 1.03 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.89, 1.19), 1.33 (95% CI: 1.08, 1.63), and 1.59 (95% CI: 1.19, 2.13), respectively. Reverse causation due to unrecognized fetal demise may explain the association between coffee intake and risk of fetal death prior to 20 completed weeks' gestation but not the association with fetal loss following 20 completed weeks' gestation. Consumption of coffee during pregnancy was associated with a higher risk of fetal death, especially losses occurring after 20 completed weeks of gestation.     

Alcohol,smoking, coffee and risk of non-fatal acute myocardial infarction in Italy

Objectives: To assess the relation between cigarette smoking, alcohol, coffee, decaffeinated coffee and tea consumption, and the risk of non-fatal acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Design and setting: Hospital-based case–control study conducted in 1995–1999 in Milan, Italy. Patients: 507 cases with a first episode of non-fatal AMI, and 478 controls admitted to hospital for acute diseases. Methods: Information was collected by interviewer-administered questionnaires. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated by multiple logistic regression. Results: Compared to alcohol non-drinkers the OR was 0.6 (95% CI: 0.4–0.9) in drinkers, and 0.5 in drinkers of >3 drinks/day. The OR for >1 drink/day of wine was 0.5, and those for beer, amari, grappa and spirits ranged between 0.4 and 0.6. Compared to never smokers, the OR was 2.2 (95% CI: 1.5–3.1) among current smokers, and 4.6 among current smokers of 25 cigarettes/day. The risk was similar to that of never smokers 5 years after cessation (OR: 1.1 after 5–9 years, 0.7 after 10 years). The OR was 2.3 for low tar cigarettes and 2.0 for high tar ones. The OR for coffee intake (expresso and mocha) was around unity up to 3 cups/day, but rose to 1.9 (95% CI: 1.1–3.3) for 6 cups/day. Moderate decaffeinated coffee and tea intake was not associated with AMI risk. Compared to non-smokers drinking 3 cups of coffee/day, the OR was 1.6 among non-smokers drinking >3 cups of coffee/day and 3.3 (95% CI: 2.1–5.0) among current smokers drinking >3 cups of coffee/day. Compared to alcohol drinkers with a coffee intake of 3 cups/day, alcohol non-drinkers with higher coffee intake had an OR of 2.2, and compared to non-smokers alcohol drinkers, the OR was 3.3 in current smokers alcohol non-drinkers. Conclusions: In this Italian population alcohol intake was inversely associated to AMI risk, while smoking and heavy (but not moderate) coffee drinking increased the risk.     

Coffee Consumption and Incidence of Subarachnoid Hemorrhage: The Jichi Medical School Cohort Study

Background

Previous studies on the association between coffee consumption and subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) have provided inconsistent results. We examine the risk of SAH from coffee consumption in a Japanese population.

Methods

Our analyses were based on the Jichi Medical School Cohort Study, a large-scale population-based prospective cohort study. A total of 9941 participants (3868 men and 6073 women; mean age 55 years) with no history of cardiovascular disease or carcinoma were examined. Participants were asked to choose one of five options to indicate their daily coffee consumption: none, less than 1 cup a day, 1–2 cups a day, 3–4 cups a day, or 5 or more cups a day. The incidence of SAH was assessed independently by a diagnostic committee. Cox proportional hazards models were used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI) after adjustment for age and sex (HR1) and for additional potential confounders (HR2).

Results

During 10.7 years of follow-up, SAH occurred in 47 participants. When compared with the participants who consumed less than 1 cup of coffee a day, the HR of SAH was significantly higher in the group who consumed 5 or more cups a day in both models (HR1 4.49; 95% CI, 1.44–14.00; HR2 3.79; 95% CI, 1.19–12.05).

Conclusions

The present community-based cohort study showed that heavy coffee consumption was associated with an increased incidence of SAH after adjusting for age, sex, and multiple potential cardiovascular confounders.Key words: coffee consumption, subarachnoid hemorrhage, community-based cohort study     

Coffee intake and incidence of hypertension

BACKGROUND: The long-term longitudinal evidence for a relation between coffee intake and hypertension is relatively scarce. OBJECTIVE: The objective was to assess whether coffee intake is associated with the incidence of hypertension. DESIGN: This study was conducted on a cohort of 2985 men and 3383 women who had a baseline visit and follow-up visits after 6 and 11 y. Baseline coffee intake was ascertained with questionnaires and categorized into 0, >0-3, >3-6, and >6 cups/d. Hypertension was defined as a mean systolic blood pressure (SBP) >or=140 mm Hg over both follow-up measurements, a mean diastolic blood pressure (DBP) >or=90 mm Hg over both follow-up measurements, or the use of antihypertensive medication at any follow-up measurement. RESULTS: Coffee abstainers at baseline had a lower risk of hypertension than did those with a coffee intake of >0-3 cups/d [odds ratio (OR): 0.54; 95% CI: 0.31, 0.92]. Women who drank >6 cups/d had a lower risk than did women who drank >0-3 cups/d (OR: 0.67; 95% CI: 0.46, 0.98). Subjects aged >or=39 y at baseline had 0.35 mm Hg (95% CI: -0.59, -0.11 mm Hg) lower SBP per cup intake/d and 0.11 mm Hg lower DBP (95% CI: -0.26, 0.03 mm Hg) than did those aged <39 y at baseline, although the difference in DBP was not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Coffee abstinence is associated with a lower hypertension risk than is low coffee consumption. An inverse U-shaped relation between coffee intake and risk of hypertension was observed in the women.     

Prospective study of coffee and tea consumption in relation to risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus among men and women: the Whitehall II study

At least fourteen cohort studies have documented an inverse association between coffee consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes. We examined the prospective association between coffee and tea consumption and the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus among British men (n 4055) and women (n 1768) from the Whitehall II cohort. During 11.7 years follow-up there were a total of 387 incident cases of diabetes confirmed by self-report of doctor's diagnosis or glucose tolerance tests. Despite an inverse association between coffee intake and 2 h post-load glucose concentration at the baseline assessment, combined caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee (hazard ratio (HR) 0.80; 95 % CI 0.54, 1.18) or only decaffeinated coffee intake (HR 0.65; 95 % CI 0.36, 1.16) was not significantly associated with diabetes risk at follow-up after adjustment for possible confounders. There was an association between tea intake and diabetes (HR 0.66; 95 % CI 0.61, 1.22; P < 0.05) after adjustment for age, gender, ethnicity and social status, which was not robust to further adjustments. There was, however, an association between combined intake of tea and coffee (two or more cups per day of both beverage) and diabetes (HR 0.68; 95 % CI 0.46, 0.99; P < 0.05) after full adjustment. In conclusion, relatively moderate intake (more than three cups per day) of coffee and tea were not prospectively associated with incidence of type 2 diabetes although there was evidence of a combined effect. The limited range of exposure and beverage consumption according to socio-economic class may explain these conflicting findings.     

Risk indicators for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in patients with coronary artery disease.

The objective of this study was to identify risk factors for sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). A retrospective case-control study was performed consisting of a group of unselected patients who had suffered SCA and had a clinical history of CAD, and a group of unselected age- and gender-matched CAD control patients living in the region of Maastricht. Information about previous myocardial infarction (MI), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes mellitus, smoking, and coffee and alcohol consumption was collected. A logistic regression model was fitted to all mentioned variables including age and genders. Included were 117 SCA cases (84% men, mean age 65 years [+/-7]) and 144 control patients (83% men, mean age 63 years [+/-8]). Previous MI (odds ratio [OR] 4.0, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.7-9.3), hypertension (OR 2.9, 95% CI 1.5-6.1), heavy coffee consumption (>10 cups per day) (OR 55.7, 95% CI 6.4-483), and a LVEF <40% (OR 11.2, CI 4.4-28.5) were independent risk indicators for SCA in patients with CAD. Alcohol consumption (1-21 glasses per week) seemed to protect patients with CAD from SCA (OR 0.5, 95% CI 0.2-0.98). These observations suggest that changes in lifestyle factors can be of potential importance in protecting patients with CAD from dying suddenly.