Intake of caffeinated coffee does not lead to more daily premature atrial contractions: NEJM

The findings from the randomized trial revealed that the consumption of caffeinated coffee did not result in significantly more daily premature atrial contractions compared to caffeine avoidance.

Gregory M. Marcus from the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues conducted a randomized, prospective, case-crossover trial to investigate the effects of caffeinated coffee on arrhythmias and cardiac ectopy, serum glucose levels, sleep minutes, and daily step counts given the uncertainty on acute health effects of coffee consumption.

One hundred adults were fitted with a continuously recording electrocardiogram device, a continuous glucose monitor, and a wrist-worn accelerometer. To collect their geolocation data, the participants downloaded a smartphone application. Daily text messages sent for 14 days were used to instruct participants to consume caffeinated coffee or avoid caffeine randomly.

The participants, reimbursements for date-stamped receipts for coffee purchases, daily surveys, and virtual monitoring of coffee-shop visits, recorded the real-time indicators. The real-time indicators were used to assess adherence to the randomization assignment. The mean number of daily premature atrial contractions was determined (primary outcome).

The mean age of the participants was 39 years; 51% were women, and 51% were non-Hispanic White.

The authors reported the following findings:

• Adherence to the random assignments was assessed to be high.
• The consumption of caffeinated coffee was associated with 58 daily premature atrial contractions compared with 53 daily events on days when caffeine was avoided (rate ratio, 1.09).
• The consumption of caffeinated coffee as compared with no caffeine consumption was associated with 154 and 102 daily premature ventricular contractions, respectively (rate ratio, 1.51); 10,646 and 9665 daily steps (mean difference, 1058); 397 and 432 minutes of nightly sleep (mean difference, 36); and serum glucose levels of 95 mg per deciliter and 96 mg per deciliter (mean difference, −0.41).

"Our findings showed that the intake of caffeinated coffee did not significantly result in more daily premature atrial contractions compared to caffeine avoidance," the authors concluded.

Reference:

Marcus GM, Rosenthal DG, Nah G, Vittinghoff E, Fang C, Ogomori K, Joyce S, Yilmaz D, Yang V, Kessedjian T, Wilson E, Yang M, Chang K, Wall G, Olgin JE. Acute Effects of Coffee Consumption on Health among Ambulatory Adults. N Engl J Med. 2023 Mar 23;388(12):1092-1100. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2204737. PMID: 36947466.