A new study has ruled out a link between drinking coffee and a raised risk of the heart beat disorder, atrial fibrillation.
The relationship between coffee consumption and atrial fibrillation has previously been unclear, so Dr Susanna Larsson and her team at the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, took a closer look.
They carried out a meta-analysis of four studies based in either Sweden or the US involving 248,910 men and women followed for about 12 years. Among the participants, 10,406 cases of atrial fibrillation were diagnosed.
This indicated that coffee consumption showed no link with atrial fibrillation, even at the highest levels. Full details appear in today’s (23 September) issue of BMC Medicine.
Dr Larsson pointed out this is the largest prospective study so far on this topic. "We find no evidence that high consumption of coffee increases the risk of atrial fibrillation," she says. "This is important because it shows that people who like coffee can safely continue to consume it, at least in moderation, without the risk of developing this condition."
But she adds that more large prospective studies investigating this relationship are needed, especially as some participants with atrial fibrillation may have quit coffee or lowered their consumption during the study. Furthermore, coffee may still trigger other forms of irregular heartbeat.
A 2014 meta-analysis of 228,465 participants in six studies also concluded: "It is unlikely that caffeine consumption causes or contributes to atrial fibrillation."
Larsson, S. C. et al. Coffee consumption is not associated with increased risk of atrial fibrillation: results from two prospective cohorts and a meta-analysis. BMC Medicine 23 September 2015 doi:10.1186/s12916-015-0447-8 [abstract]
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