Abstract 19899: Coffee Consumption is Not Associated With Calcified Atherosclerotic Plaques in the Coronary Arteries: The NHLBI Family Heart Study

Abstract

Introduction: The average consumption of coffee per day in the United States is 3.2 cups. While in a recent meta-analysis of 21 prospective studies, coffee consumption was associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease mortality, with the lowest risk observed among consumers of 4 cups/day, limited and inconsistent data are available on the relation of coffee intake with subclinical disease. Hypothesis: Our primary hypothesis is that coffee consumption is inversely associated with the prevalence of atherosclerotic plaque in coronary arteries in NHLBI Family Heart Study Methods: In a cross-sectional design, we studied 1929 participants of the NHLBI Family Heart Study without known coronary heart disease. Coffee consumption was assessed by a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire and coronary-artery calcium (CAC) was measured by cardiac CT. We defined prevalent CAC using an Agatston score of at least 100 and fitted generalized estimating equations to calculate prevalence odds ratios of CAC. Results: Mean age and BMI were 56.7 years and 28.8 kg/m2 respectively, and 59% were male. In crude analysis, higher coffee consumption was associated with higher prevalence of CAC. Odds ratio (95%CI) for CAC were 1.0 (reference), 1.34 (0.92-1.94), 2.48 (1.81-3.40), 2.45 (1.82-3.30), and 1.81 (1.29-2.56) for coffee consumption of almost never, <1/day, 1/day, 2-3/day, and ≥4 cups/day. However, controlling for potential confounding factors eliminated such association [Corresponding odds ratio (95%CI) for CAC: 0.92 (0.57-1.49), 1.34 (0.86-2.08), 1.30 (0.84-2.02), and 0.99 (0.60-1.64), respectively, adjusting for age, sex, BMI, smoking, alcohol, physical activity, field center, and total calories]. Conclusions: These data do not provide evidence for an association between coffee consumption and prevalent CAC in adult men and women.