Effect of coffee consumption on all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality

Objective: To evaluate the association between coffee consumption and mortality from all causes and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Methods: Data were from the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study (ACLS) cohort. A total of 43,727 participants, contributing to 16,062 person-years of follow-up time, were included in final analysis. Data were collected by an in-person interview based on standardized questionnaires and a medical examination including fasting blood chemistry analysis, anthropometry, blood pressure, electrocardiography, and a maximal graded exercise test. Cox regression analysis was used to quantify the association between coffee consumption and all-cause and cause-specific mortality. Results: During the 17-year median follow-up period, 2512 deaths occurred (men: 87.5%; women: 12.5%) and 32% were due to CVD. In multivariate analysis, coffee intake was positively associated with all-cause mortality in men, but not in women. Men who drank >28 cups of coffee per week had higher all-cause mortality (hazard ratio: 1.21; 95% CI: 1.04-1.40). However, after stratification based on age, both younger (<55 years) men and women showed a statistically significant association between high coffee consumption (>28 cups/week) and all-cause mortality after adjusting for the potential confounders and fitness level (hazard ratio: 1.56; 95% CI: 1.30-1.87 for men and hazard ratio: 2.13; 95% CI: 1.26-3.59 for women, respectively). Conclusion: In this large cohort the positive association between coffee consumption and all-cause mortality was observed among men and both men and women <55 years of age. Hence, it may be appropriate to recommend that younger people should avoid heavy coffee consumption (> 4 cups on typical days).