ABSTRACT

Background:
Epidemiological studies have shown that coffee consumption is associated with a lowered risk of incident venous thromboembolism (VTE). No previous study has explored whether coffee consumption influences the risk of VTE recurrence.

Objectives:
This study aimed to investigate whether the amount of coffee consumption (cups/d) is associated with the risk of VTE recurrence in a population-based cohort of incident VTEs.

Methods:
The cohort consisted of 2071 patients with incident VTE recruited from 4 surveys of the Tromsø Study (enrolment, 1994-2008) and the third survey of the Trøndelag Health Study (enrolment, 2006-2008), followed from the date of the index VTE until 2020. Information on coffee consumption (cups/d) and potential confounders was extracted. Cox regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% CIs for VTE recurrence.

Results:
During a median follow-up of 2.8 years, 310 recurrent VTEs occurred. There was no linear relationship between increasing coffee intake and VTE recurrence. The HR for recurrence was 0.49 (95% CI, 0.30-0.81) for those consuming 1 to 2 cups of coffee per day and 0.71 (95% CI, 0.44-1.12) for those consuming >6 cups compared with noncoffee consumers. The association between coffee consumption (yes/no) and lowered recurrence risk was more pronounced for provoked index VTE event (HR, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.30-0.82) than for unprovoked index VTE (HR, 1.01; 95% CI, 0.53-1.94).

Conclusion:
Coffee consumption was associated with a nonlinear, lowered risk of VTE recurrence, particularly after provoked VTE. Our findings suggest that coffee can be safely consumed after VTE, potentially with a beneficial effect on recurrence risk.

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