Coffee Consumption and Risk of Stroke in Women

Background and Purpose-Coffee consumption has been inconsistently associated with stroke incidence and mortality in previous studies. We investigated the association between coffee consumption and stroke incidence in the Swedish Mammography Cohort. Methods-We prospectively followed of 34 670 women without a history of cardiovascular disease or cancer at baseline in 1997. Coffee consumption was assessed in 1997 using a self-administered questionnaire. Incident stroke cases were ascertained from the Swedish Hospital Discharge Registry. Results-During a mean follow-up of 10.4 years, we ascertained 1680 stroke events, including 1310 cerebral infarctions, 154 intracerebral hemorrhages, 79 subarachnoid hemorrhages, and 137 unspecified strokes. After adjustment for other risk factors, coffee consumption was associated with a statistically significant lower risk of total stroke, cerebral infarction, and subarachnoid hemorrhage but not intracerebral hemorrhage. The multivariable relative risks of total stroke across categories of coffee consumption (< 1 cup/ day, 1 to 2 cups/day, 3 to 4 cups/day, and >= 5 cups/day) were 1.00, 0.78 (95% CI, 0.66 to 0.91), 0.75 (95% CI, 0.64 to 0.88), and 0.77 (95% CI, 0.63 to 0.92, respectively; P for trend=0.02). The association between coffee consumption and cerebral infarction was not modified by smoking status, body mass index, history of diabetes or hypertension, or alcohol consumption. Conclusions-These findings suggest that low or no coffee consumption is associated with an increased risk of stroke in women. (Stroke. 2011;42:908-912.)