Intermittent nonhabitual coffee consumption and risk of atrial fibrillation: The multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Jennifer Xu, University of California, Irvine; Wenjun Fan, University of California, Irvine; Matthew J. Budoff, Lundquist Institute; Susan R. Heckbert, University of Washington; Ezra A. Amsterdam, University of California Davis Medical Center; Alvaro Alonso, Emory University; Nathan D. Wong, University of California, Irvine
• Language: English
• Date: 2019-01-01
• Publisher: CardioFront
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2019 CardioFront LLC. All rights reserved.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.4022/jafib.2205
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Journal of atrial fibrillation
• ISSN: 1941-6911
• Volume: 12
• Issue: 1
• Start Page: 2205
• End Page: 2205
• Grant/Funding Information: The authors thank the other investigators, the staff, and the participants of the MESA study for their valuable contributions; Dr. Alonso was supported by American Heart Association grant 16EIA26410001; This research was supported by contracts HHSN268201500003I, N01-HC-95159, N01-HC-95160, N01-HC-95161, N01-HC-95162, N01-HC-95163, N01-HC-95164, N01-HC-95165, N01-HC-95166, N01-HC-95167, N01-HC-95168, N01-HC-95169; and grant R01 HL127659 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and by grants UL1-TR-000040, UL1-TR-001079, and UL1-TR-001420 from NCATS.
• Keywords: Coffee; Caffeine; Cardiovascular Disease; Epidemiology; Atrial Fibrillation
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Epidemiology; Health Sciences, Medicine and Surgery

Abstract

Background: Though it is a widely held belief that caffeinated beverages predispose individuals to arrhythmias, it is not clear whether regular coffee consumption is associated with development of atrial fibrillation (AF). Objective: We examined the association between long-term coffee consumption and development of AF in both habitual (≥0.5 cups of daily coffee) and nonhabitual (<0.5 cups/day) drinkers. Methods: A total of 5,972 men and women, aged 45-84 years and without a history of cardiovascular disease at baseline in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) were followed from 2000 to 2014 for incident AF with baseline coffee consumption assessed in 2000-2002 via a Food Frequency Questionnaire and divided into quartiles of 0 cups/day, >0 to <0.5 cups/day, ≥0.5 to <1 cups/day, and ≥1.5 cups/day. Results: Out of the 828 incident cases of AF, intermittent coffee consumption (>0 to 0.5 cups of daily coffee) was associated with a greater risk of incident AF (HR=1.22, 95% CI=1.01-1.48) relative to 0 cups/day in multivariable Cox proportional hazards models after adjustment for numerous AF risk factors. This relation was particularly pronounced in men (adjusted HR=1.36, 95% CI 1.04-1.77). Higher coffee consumption was not associated with AF risk (HR 1.03, 95%CI 0.93-1.14 for ≥0.5 to 1.5 cups/day and 1.05, 95%CI 0.97-1.13 for ≥1.5 cups/day). Conclusions: While there appears to be no dose-response association between habitual coffee intake and AF risk, we found evidence that intermittent, but not habitual, coffee consumption is associated with a modestly increased risk of incident AF that deserves further study.