Association Between Coffee Consumption and Incident Atrial Fibrillation (from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis [MESA])

This study aimed to elucidate a potential dose-dependent relation between coffee intake and atrial fibrillation (AF) incidence in a multi-ethnic setting. Previous studies were comprised mainly of White populations, and an exploration of dose dependency is limited. To address these gaps, we analyzed the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis data, a prospective cohort study. In the primary analysis, we crudely divided patients into 3 groups: non-consumers, 1 to 3 cups/month, and >= 1 cup/week. For the secondary analysis, we stratified the cohort into 9 groups of gradual increments for coffee consumption. A multivariable cox proportional hazards regression model was adjusted for 6 potential confounders: age, gender, smoking, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and alcohol. Subjects who drank >= 1 cup of coffee/week had a higher incidence of AF (adjusted hazard ratio 1.40, p = 0.015) than nonconsumers. Furthermore, in the secondary analysis, there was an overall trend, albeit not consistent, of increasing adjusted hazard ratio with progressively increasing doses of coffee in the following groups: 1 to 3 cups/month, 2 to 4 cups/week, 2 to 3 cups/day and >= 6 cups/day. Notably, AF incidence was highest (9.8%) for the group consuming the most coffee, that is, >= 6 cups/day (p = 0.02). Stratification by race/ethnicity suggested the results may be driven by White and Hispanic rather than Black or Chinese-American subgroups. In conclusion, the findings suggest an association between coffee consumption and incident AF in contrast to most previous studies. (c) 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study investigated the association between coffee intake and incidence of atrial fibrillation (AF), finding that there is an association between coffee consumption and incident AF, contrary to previous studies. The results showed that individuals who consumed 1 cup of coffee or more per week had a higher incidence of AF. Furthermore, there was a trend of increasing AF incidence with progressively increasing doses of coffee.