Association between coffee consumption and risk of recurrent venous thromboembolism - Results from the Trøndelag Health Study and Tromsø Study.

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.