Coffee Consumption : Lower Stroke Risk for Women

High Coffee Consumption Linked to Lower Stroke Risk for Women

By Todd Neale, Staff Writer, MedPage Today Published: February 17, 2009 Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor  University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

MADRID, Feb. 17 -- Drinking caffeinated coffee regularly may lower the stroke risk for women, according to data from the Nurses' Health Study. Action Points   Explain to interested patients that although this study found an inverse association between coffee consumption and stroke risk, adjusting for high blood pressure, hypercholesterolemia, and type 2 diabetes attenuated the relationship. Point out that the association was significant only in women who had never smoked or who had quit. Women who drank two to three cups a day had a 19% reduction in the risk of all strokes, with greater consumption lowering the risk even further (P=0.003 for trend), found Esther Lopez-Garcia, Ph.D., of the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, and Harvard colleagues. The association was weakened after adjusting for high blood pressure, hypercholesterolemia, and type 2 diabetes, and was not statistically significant among current smokers, the investigators reported in the Feb. 17 issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. "These results should be supported by further research before the possible implications for public health and clinical practice are considered," the researchers said. Previous studies have linked coffee consumption to a lower risk of diabetes. (See: Perk Up -- Coffee May Give a Break on Type 2 Diabetes)/.../