Drinking a daily cup of caffeinated coffee was linked to a 39% lower hazard of atrial fibrillation (a-fib) recurrence in older adults recently treated for the disorder, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
In practical terms, for roughly every six people who kept drinking coffee instead of quitting after a-fib treatment, one extra person avoided a recurrence, according to the findings.
“The results were astounding,” first author Christopher Wong of the University of California San Francisco and the University of Adelaide (Australia) said in an announcement of the publication. “Doctors have always recommended that patients with problematic a-fib minimize their coffee intake, but this trial suggests that coffee is not only safe but likely to be protective.”
Led by researchers at both universities, the study represents the first randomized clinical trial investigating the link between caffeinated coffee and atrial fibrillation, a common heart rhythm disorder that causes rapid, irregular heartbeat and can lead to stroke and heart failure.
A-fib has been diagnosed in more than 10 million U.S. adults and affects an estimated one in three people, according to the study authors.
The DECAF trial — short for Does Eliminating Coffee Avoid Fibrillation — enrolled 200 adults from numerous hospitals with persistent atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter. Most of the participants were in their late 60s, and all were scheduled for electrical cardioversion to restore a normal heartbeat.
The participants, all of whom had been coffee drinkers within the past five years, were randomly assigned to one of two strategies for six months after the cardioversion treatment: drink at least one cup of caffeinated coffee per day, or avoid coffee and all other caffeinated drinks.
At the end of the six-month study period, 64% of coffee abstainers had an a-fib recurrence, compared to 47% among coffee drinkers, representing a 17-percentage-point absolute difference. The authors translated that to a 39% lower risk at any given time during the study (a “relative hazard” of 0.61).
Caffeinated coffee has long been considered by the medical community to be “proarrhythmic,” according to the authors, although these new findings add to growing evidence that coffee may help keep the heart’s rhythms in check.
A 2021 study, also led by a UCSF team, tracked data from 386,258 people with an average age of 56. Over four years, researchers found that 4% developed an arrhythmia — such as atrial fibrillation, premature ventricular contractions or other common heart conditions. People who reported drinking coffee did not develop arrhythmias at a higher rate than noncoffee drinkers, and increased coffee consumption was associated with a 3% lower risk of developing an arrhythmia.
The new DECAF study was funded primarily by the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Several authors reported previously receiving consulting or speaking fees from device makers and pharmaceutical companies, though funders had no role in the design and conduct of the study.
The study was presented on Nov. 9 at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions in New Orleans.
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