Coffee, caffeine, and the risk of liver cirrhosis

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effect of the consumption of caffeine-containing b everages on the risk of symptomatic liver cirrhosis (LC). METHODS: From 1994 to 1998, all the consecutive cirrhotic inpatients admitt ed in 19 collaborative hospitals for signs of liver decompensation in whom the diagnosis of liver cirrhosis was made for the first time (274 cases) an d one or two gender, age, and place of residence pair matched individuals, (458 controls) were recruited. Data on years of education, lifetime cigaret te use, lifetime intake of alcohol- and caf, feine-containing beverages, us ual consumption of 180 food items, and on markers of hepatitis B and C vira l infection were collected. RESULTS: A statistically significant trend toward lowered cirrhosis risk wi th increasing exposure to coffee was observed. The LC odds ratios decreased from 1.0 (reference category: lifetime abstainers from coffee) to 0.47 (95 % confidence interval: 0.20, 1.10), 0.23 (0.10, 0.53), 0.21 (0.06, 0.74), a nd 0.16 (0.05, 0.50) in 1, 2, 3, and 4 or more cups of coffee drinkers, res pectively. There was no convincing evidence that coffee consumption modifie s the effects of the known risk factors of liver cirrhosis (alcohol intake and viruses infection). CONCLUSIONS: These findings support the hypothesis that Coffee, but not oth er beverages containing caffeine, may inhibit the onset of alcoholic and no nalcoholic liver cirrhosis. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reser ved.