Smoking and coffee consumption in three groups: Cancer deaths, cardiovascular deaths and living controls. A prospective study in evans county, Georgia

Abstract

Two closely associated habits, cigarette smoking and coffee drinking, were investigated during a 10-yr follow-up in a community-based study. The purpose was to examine the potential relationship between heavy coffee consumption and carcinogenesis. In 1967–1969 the Evans County cohort of 2530 adults was questioned about their habits and the mortality follow-up until 1978 is reported here. During this time 74 patients died of cancer. These patients were matched with 74 patients who died of cardiovascular diseases and 74 presumably healthy survivors. Cigarette smoking was related to mortality from cancer, but no evidence was found to associate heavy coffee drinking with cancer death in this population sample from Evans County, Georgia. While our results do not prove conclusively that heavy coffee consumption is unrelated to carcinogenesis, the data supports a co-carcinogenic effect of cigarette smoking in certain organ-systems.