Abstract P042: Coffee Intake and the Risk of Subclinical Myocardial Damage, Cardiovascular Events and All-cause Mortality

Abstract

Introduction: Whether coffee intake is protective against cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk and mortality is controversial and putative mechanisms are incompletely understood, but prior studies may be confounded by a “healthy user” effect. Hypothesis: Habitual coffee consumption would not be associated with subclinical myocardial damage assessed using high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT), CVD events (coronary heart disease, heart failure or stroke) and all-cause mortality, after adjustment for rigorously measured confounders. Methods: We evaluated 11,281 ARIC participants free of CVD at baseline (Visit 2, 1990-1992). Coffee consumption was assessed via a modified food frequency questionnaire at Visit 2 and categorized according to number of cups/day. We used logistic regression models adjusted for demographic characteristics, smoking status and traditional CVD risk factors to test the cross-sectional associations with hs-cTnT, and adjusted Cox models for incident CVD events and mortality. Results: Mean age of participants was 57 years, 58% were women and 24% black. In cross-sectional analyses, compared to individuals reporting “almost never” having consumed coffee, no significant association was found between higher levels of coffee consumption and elevated hs-cTnT (OR for ≥6 cups/day vs. almost never 0.69; 95% CI 0.39, 1.21; Table). In prospective analyses, the association between coffee and incident CVD was not significant (HR for ≥6 cups/day vs. almost never: 1.15; 95% CI 0.99, 1.34; Table). Compared to almost never consuming coffee, 2-3 cups/day was associated with reduced risk of all-cause mortality and ≥6 cups/day with elevated risk of all-cause mortality (Table). Conclusion: In this bi-racial cohort of middle-aged adults, coffee intake was not associated with subclinical myocardial damage or CVD. However, moderate coffee consumption may be associated with a modestly reduced risk of all-cause mortality and very high coffee consumption with a mild increase in all-cause mortality.