Coffee Prevents Heart Arrhythmia?

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Good news for Starbucks denizens -- a few cups of coffee each day may actually prevent you from being hospitalized for heart rhythm disturbances.

A California study by Kaiser Permanente found men and women who reported drinking four or more cups of coffee each day had an 18 percent lower risk of hospitalization for heart rhythm disturbances. Those who reported drinking one to three cups each day had a 7 percent reduction in risk.

The study involved 130,054 men and women, 18 to 90 years old, with the majority less than 50 years old. About 2 percent were hospitalized for rhythm disturbances, 50 percent for atrial fibrillation, the most common heart rhythm problem.  The 18 percent reduction in risk was consistent among men and women, different ethnic groups, smokers and nonsmokers.

"Coffee drinking is related to lower risk of hospitalization for rhythm problems, but this association does not prove cause and effect," lead author Arthur Klatsky, M.D., senior consultant in cardiology at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program, was quoted as saying. "These data should be reassuring to people who drink moderate amounts of coffee that their habit is not likely to cause a rhythm disturbance."

The researchers examined hospitalization data by elapsed time after the initial examination. For hospitalization within 10 years, the reduction in hospitalizations for people who consumed four cups of coffee or more each day reached 28 percent.

"This study does not mean that people should drink coffee to prevent rhythm problems," Dr. Klatsky said. "It supports the idea that people who are at risk for rhythm problems or who have rhythm problems do not need to abstain from coffee."

SOURCE: Presented at American Heart Association's Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, March 2, 2010

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