Coffee consumption and risk of cardiovascular events in hypertensive patients. Results from the HARVEST

• Published in: International journal of cardiology Vol. 212; pp. 131 - 137
• Main Authors: Palatini, Paolo, Fania, Claudio, Mos, Lucio, Garavelli, Guido, Mazzer, Adriano, Cozzio, Susanna, Saladini, Francesca, Casiglia, Edoardo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01.06.2016
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Caffeine; Cardiovascular; Cardiovascular Diseases - chemically induced; Cardiovascular Diseases - diagnosis; Cardiovascular Diseases - epidemiology; Coffee; Coffee - adverse effects; Cohort Studies; Events; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Hypertension; Hypertension - diagnosis; Hypertension - epidemiology; Male; Middle Aged; Prospective Studies; Risk Factors; Young Adult; Hypertension; CVE; Cardiovascular; Events; Coffee; HARVEST; BMI; Caffeine; cardiovascular events; body mass index; Hypertension and Ambulatory Recording VEnetia Study
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijcard.2016.03.006
• ISSN: 0167-5273; 1874-1754

Controversy still exists about the long-term cardiovascular effects of coffee consumption in hypertension. The predictive capacity of coffee use for cardiovascular events (CVEs) was investigated in 1204 participants from the HARVEST, a prospective cohort study of non-diabetic subjects aged 18–45years, screened for stage 1 hypertension. Subjects were grouped into three categories of coffee drinking, non-drinkers (none), moderate drinkers (1 to 3cups/day) and heavy drinkers (4or more cups/day). Multivariate Cox proportional hazards models were developed adjusting for possible confounding variables and risk factors. During a median follow-up of 12.6years, CVEs were developed by 60 participants. CVEs were more common among coffee drinkers than abstainers (abstainers, 2.2%; moderate drinkers, 7.0%; heavy drinkers, 14.0%; p for trend=0.0003). In a multivariable Cox regression model, coffee use was a significant predictor of CVE in both coffee categories, with a hazard ratio of 2.8 (95% CI, 1.0–7.9) in moderate coffee drinkers and of 4.5 (1.4–14.2) in heavy drinkers compared to abstainers. After inclusion of change in body weight (p=ns), incident hypertension (p=0.027) and presence of diabetes/prediabetes (p=ns) at follow-up end, the association with CVE was attenuated but remained significant in heavy coffee drinkers (HR, 95% CI, 3.4, 1.04–11.3). These data show that coffee consumption increases the risk of CVE in a linear fashion in hypertension. This association may be explained in part by the association between coffee and development of hypertension. Hypertensive patients should be discouraged from drinking coffee.