COFFEE CONSUMPTION AND MORTALITY FROM ISCHEMIC HEART DISEASE AND OTHER CAUSES: RESULTS FROM THE LUTHERAN BROTHERHOOD STUDY, 1966–1978

Abstract

Murray, S. S., E. Bjeike, R. W. Gibson and L. M. Schuman (School of Public Health, U. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455). Coffee consumption and mortality from Ischemic heart disease and other causes: Results from the Lutheran Brotherhood study, 1966–1978. Am J Epidemiol 1981; 113: 661–7. In this cohort study, 16, 911 men who had completed a mailed dietary questionnaire were followed for 11 ½ years with 721 deaths reported from Ischemic heart disease (IHD) (excluding those reporting on the questionnaire a prior history of angina or other heart conditions). Although no association was found between coffee consumption and mortality from IHD, a negative association between coffee consumption and mortality from diseases other than IHD was found. This negative association, found exclusively in the first four years of follow-up, was observed in deaths from digestive diseases, other than malignancies, and paralysis agitans, which made the greatest contribution to this observed negative association. The negative association appeared to reflect a reduction in coffee consumption related to the disorders in question and not to a protective effect of coffee. It has been suggested that the positive association between coffee consumption and IHD reported in some case-control studies may reflect a decreased consumption among controls rather than an unusually high consumption among cases.