ABSTRACT

Background:

Caffeine is associated with a lower risk of some neurological diseases, but few prospective studies have investigated caffeine intake and risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) mortality. We therefore determined associations between coffee, tea, and caffeine intake and risk of ALS mortality.

Methods:

We conducted pooled analyses of eight international, prospective cohort studies, including 351,565 individuals (120,688 men and 230,877 women). We assessed coffee, tea, and caffeine intake using validated food frequency questionnaires administered at baseline. We used Cox regression to estimate study‐ and sex‐specific risk ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for ALS mortality, which were then pooled using a random effects model. We conducted analyses using cohort‐specific tertiles, absolute common cut points, and continuous measures of all exposures.

Results:

During follow‐up, 545 ALS deaths were documented. We did not observe statistically significant associations between coffee, tea, or caffeine intake and risk of ALS mortality. The pooled multivariable RR (MVRR) for ≥3 cups per day vs. >0 to <1 cup per day was 1.04 (95% CI: 0.74–1.47) for coffee and 1.17 (95% CI: 0.77–1.79) for tea. The pooled MVRR comparing the highest to the lowest tertile of caffeine intake (mg/day) was 0.99 (95% CI: 0.80–1.23). No statistically significant results were observed when exposures were modeled as tertiles or continuously.

Conclusions:

Our results do not support associations between coffee, tea, or total caffeine intake and risk of ALS mortality.