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Meta-Analysis
. 2017 Nov 22:359:j5024.
doi: 10.1136/bmj.j5024.

Coffee consumption and health: umbrella review of meta-analyses of multiple health outcomes

Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Coffee consumption and health: umbrella review of meta-analyses of multiple health outcomes

Robin Poole et al. BMJ. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Objectives To evaluate the existing evidence for associations between coffee consumption and multiple health outcomes.Design Umbrella review of the evidence across meta-analyses of observational and interventional studies of coffee consumption and any health outcome.Data sources PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and screening of references.Eligibility criteria for selecting studies Meta-analyses of both observational and interventional studies that examined the associations between coffee consumption and any health outcome in any adult population in all countries and all settings. Studies of genetic polymorphisms for coffee metabolism were excluded.Results The umbrella review identified 201 meta-analyses of observational research with 67 unique health outcomes and 17 meta-analyses of interventional research with nine unique outcomes. Coffee consumption was more often associated with benefit than harm for a range of health outcomes across exposures including high versus low, any versus none, and one extra cup a day. There was evidence of a non-linear association between consumption and some outcomes, with summary estimates indicating largest relative risk reduction at intakes of three to four cups a day versus none, including all cause mortality (relative risk 0.83 (95% confidence interval 0.79 to 0.88), cardiovascular mortality (0.81, 0.72 to 0.90), and cardiovascular disease (0.85, 0.80 to 0.90). High versus low consumption was associated with an 18% lower risk of incident cancer (0.82, 0.74 to 0.89). Consumption was also associated with a lower risk of several specific cancers and neurological, metabolic, and liver conditions. Harmful associations were largely nullified by adequate adjustment for smoking, except in pregnancy, where high versus low/no consumption was associated with low birth weight (odds ratio 1.31, 95% confidence interval 1.03 to 1.67), preterm birth in the first (1.22, 1.00 to 1.49) and second (1.12, 1.02 to 1.22) trimester, and pregnancy loss (1.46, 1.06 to 1.99). There was also an association between coffee drinking and risk of fracture in women but not in men.Conclusion Coffee consumption seems generally safe within usual levels of intake, with summary estimates indicating largest risk reduction for various health outcomes at three to four cups a day, and more likely to benefit health than harm. Robust randomised controlled trials are needed to understand whether the observed associations are causal. Importantly, outside of pregnancy, existing evidence suggests that coffee could be tested as an intervention without significant risk of causing harm. Women at increased risk of fracture should possibly be excluded.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form at www.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf and declare: no support from any organisation for the submitted work; JAF reports research grants from GlaxoSmithKline and from Intercept Pharmaceuticals, and personal fees from Novartis and from Merck, outside the submitted work; PCH reports personal fees from MSD, personal fees from Gilead, personal fees from Abbvie, personal fees from Jannsen, personal fees from BMS, personal fees from Pfizer, grants and personal fees from Roche, personal fees from Novartis, outside the submitted work; no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.

Figures

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Fig 1 Flowchart of selection of studies for inclusion in umbrella review on coffee consumption and health
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Fig 2 High versus low coffee consumption and associations with multiple health outcomes. Estimates are relative risks and effect models are random unless noted otherwise. For type 2 diabetes, P value was significant for non-linearity. No of events/total for leukaemia could not be split from other outcomes. All estimates were from our own reanalysis apart from preterm birth in first and third trimester and leukaemia
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Fig 3 Any versus no coffee consumption and associations with multiple health outcomes. Estimates are relative risks and effect models are random unless noted otherwise. All estimates were from our own reanalysis apart from acute leukaemia, urinary tract cancer, and colorectal cancer
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Fig 4 Consumption of one extra cup of coffee a day and associations with multiple health outcomes. Estimates are relative risks and effect models are random unless noted otherwise. No dose response analyses were re-analysed
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Fig 5 Consumption of decaffeinated coffee and associations with multiple health outcomes. Estimates are relative risks and effect models are random unless noted otherwise
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Fig 6 Coffee consumption in randomised controlled trials and change (mean difference) in blood pressure in random effects model. Estimates are from our own analysis
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Fig 7 Coffee consumption in randomised controlled trials and change (mean difference) in cholesterol concentration. Effects are random unless noted otherwise
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Fig 8 Coffee consumption in randomised controlled trials and effects (relative risk) on birth outcomes
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Fig 9 Coffee consumption in randomised controlled trials and change (mean difference) in birth weight

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