Coffee intake and mortality from liver cirrhosis

PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to evaluate the association between coffee consumption and mortality from liver cirrhosis. METHODS: We conducted a mortality follow-up of 51,306 adults who underwent screening for cardiovascular disease from 1977 to 1983. During the subsequent 17 years, the total number of deaths from all causes in the Studied cohort was 4207. Fifty-three had the diagnosis of cirrhosis mentioned on the death certificate; of these, 36 had alcoholic cirrhosis. RESULTS: The relative risk of liver cirrhosis mentioned on the death certificate associated with an increase of two cups of coffee, adjusted for sex, age, alcohol use and other major cardiovascular risk factors was 0.6 (95% confidence interval, 0.5-0.8). For alcoholic cirrhosis the results were identical. When studying cirrhosis as the underlying cause of death, the inverse relationship becomes somewhat stronger. CONCLUSIONS: The present study confirms the existence of an inverse association between coffee consumption and liver cirrhosis. Ann Epidemiol 2003; 13:419-423. (C) 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.