Association of coffee consumption and liver fibrosis progression in patients with HBeAg-negative chronic hepatitis B: A 5-year population-based cohort study

Abstract

Although coffee consumption has been associated with decreased risk of liver fibrosis progression, cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with HCV infection or fatty liver diseases, its effect on hepatitis B patients remains unclear. We aimed to examine the effect of coffee consumption on liver fibrosis progression and cirrhosis-related complications in patients with chronic HBV infection. Coffee consumption was assessed in 2604 participants who were previously recruited from a population-based GERD survey. The primary endpoints of this study were the impact of coffee consumption on the development of cirrhosis-related complications, including liver cirrhosis, esophageal varices, or hepatocellular carcinoma at the end of 5-year follow-up. The secondary endpoints were the declines of serum predicting indices of liver fibrosis (AST/ALT, APRI, FIB-4, Hui score) or liver function tests (AST, ALT). 328 patients with chronic HBV infection were enrolled into this study. At baseline, coffee consumption was associated with higher education level, more frequent tobacco use and normal blood pressure (p<0.05 for all). Patients with higher coffee consumption had a significant lower serum AST, APRI and FIB-4 index value than non-coffee drinkers [adjusted HR 0.30, 95% CI(0.11-0.82) for AST; 0.30, 95% CI (0.11-0.84) for APRI; 0.30, 95% CI (0.13-0.69) for FIB-4]. However, higher coffee consumption didn't change serum AST levels, APRI, FIB-4 index values or incidences of cirrhosis-related complications at the end of 5-year follow-up. Coffee consumption was not associated with fibrosis progression or HCC risk in chronic hepatitis B patients over the 5-year observation period.