Background:

Previous studies of the relationship between coffee consumption and incidence of heart failure (HF) have not been consistent, with both potential benefit and potential harm reported. We therefore examined the association between coffee consumption and HF hospitalization or mortality in women.

Methods and Results:

We conducted a prospective, observational study of 34,551 participants of the Swedish Mammography Cohort who were 48-83 years old and did not have HF, diabetes, or myocardial infarction at baseline. Diet was measured using food-frequency questionnaires. Cox models were used to calculate hazard ratios of HF hospitalization or death from HF as the primary cause, as determined through the Swedish inpatient and cause-of-death registers between January 1, 1998 and December 31, 2006. Over 9 years of follow-up, 602 HF events occurred. Women who consumed ≥5 cups of coffee per day did not have higher rates of HF events than those who consumed <5 cups per day (multivariable-adjusted hazard ratio = 0.93, 95% confidence interval: 0.72-1.20). Compared to women who consumed ≤1 cup of coffee per day, hazard ratios were 1.01, 0.82, 0.94, and 0.87 for women who consumed 2, 3, 4, and ≥5 cups per day, respectively (p for trend = 0.23). Further adjustment for self-reported hypertension did not change the results.

Conclusions:

In this population of middle-aged and older women, we did not find an association between coffee consumption and incidence of HF events.