Coffee drinkers are less likely to be hospitalized for heart rhythm disturbances, according to a report presented at the American Heart Association’s 50th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention.
Researchers at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program in Oakland, California found that men and women who reported drinking four or more cups of coffee each day had an 18 per cent lower risk of hospitalization for heart rhythm disturbances. Those who reported drinking one to three cups each day had a 7 per cent reduction in risk.
The large, long-term observational study involved 130,054 men and women, 18 to 90 years old, with the majority less than 50 years old. About 2 per cent (3,317) were hospitalized for rhythm disturbances; 50 per cent of those were for atrial fibrillation, the most common heart rhythm problem. The 18 percent reduction in risk was consistent among men and women, different ethnic groups, smokers and nonsmokers.
In the study, 14 per cent reported drinking less than one cup of coffee a day; 42 per cent reported drinking one to three cups; and 17 per cent reported drinking four cups or more each day. Only 27 per cent were not coffee drinkers.
“Coffee drinking is related to lower risk of hospitalization for rhythm problems, but this association does not prove cause and effect,” said Arthur Klatsky, MD, study lead investigator and senior consultant in cardiology at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program. “These data should be reassuring to people who drink moderate amounts of coffee that their habit is not likely to cause a rhythm disturbance.”
“This study does not mean that people should drink coffee to prevent rhythm problems,” Klatsky said. “It supports the idea that people who are at risk for rhythm problems or who have rhythm problems do not need to abstain from coffee.”
Because patients frequently report palpitations after drinking coffee, the public may be surprised at the study findings, Klatsky said. The study was supported by a grant from the Kaiser Foundation Research Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
