Coffee and Cardiovascular Disease

Abstract

Coffee consumption was determined at the fourth biennial examination in the Framingham Study to ascertain its relation to cardiovascular disease. The association between coffee and other risk factors, including cigarette smoking, was also investigated over the 12-year follow-up period. Coffee drinking was studied in relation to total coronary heart disease, angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, sudden death, and death from all causes. A statistically significant increase in risk with increasing coffee consumption was observed only in the category "death from all causes." This relation could be accounted for by the association between coffee consumption and cigarette smoking. It was concluded that coffee drinking, as engaged in by the general population, is not a factor in the development of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. (N Engl J Med 291:871–874, 1974)