title: Coffee consumption and calcified atherosclerotic plaques in the coronary arteries: The NHLBI Family Heart Study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  While a recent meta-analysis of prospective studies reported that coffee consumption is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease mortality, limited and inconsistent data are available on the relation of coffee intake with subclinical disease. Thus, the aim of the present study was to see the association of coffee consumption with the prevalence of atherosclerotic plaque in the coronary arteries in NHLBI Family Heart Study.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a cross-sectional design, we studied 1929 participants of the NHLBI Family Heart Study without known coronary heart disease. Coffee consumption was assessed by a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire and coronary-artery calcium (CAC) was measured by cardiac computed tomography. We defined prevalent CAC as an Agatston score of ≥100 and used generalized estimating equations to calculate prevalence ratios of CAC as well as a sensitivity analysis at a range of cutpoints for CAC.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean age was 56.7 years and 59% of the study subjects were female. In adjusted analysis for age, sex, BMI, smoking, alcohol, physical activity, field center, and energy intake, prevalence ratio (95% CI) for CAC was 1.0 (reference), 0.92 (0.57-1.49), 1.34 (0.86-2.08), 1.30 (0.84-2.02), and 0.99 (0.60-1.64) for coffee consumption of almost never, <1/day, 1/day, 2-3/day, and ≥4 cups/day, respectively. In a sensitivity analysis, there was no evidence of association between coffee consumption and prevalent CAC when CAC cut points of 0, 50, 150, 200, and 300 were used.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data do not provide evidence for an association between coffee consumption and prevalent CAC in adult men and women.
authors.affiliation: Division of Aging, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States. Electronic address: dryashpatel21@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Yash R
authors.initials: YR
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.affiliation: Division of Aging, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States; Tulane Heart & Vascular Institute, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA, United States.
authors.forename: Taraka V
authors.initials: TV
authors.lastname: Gadiraju
authors.affiliation: Section of Preventive Medicine & Epidemiology, Boston University, Boston, MA, United States.
authors.forename: R Curtis
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Ellison
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetic Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, Doha, Qatar; Cardiovascular Genetics Division, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, United States.
authors.forename: Steven C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Hunt
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Cardiovascular Medicine and Biomedical Informatics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center Nashville, TN, United States.
authors.forename: John Jeffrey
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Carr
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC, United States.
authors.forename: Gerardo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Heiss
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology, University of Alabama, Birmingham, AL, United States.
authors.forename: Donna K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Arnett
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States.
authors.forename: James S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Pankow
authors.affiliation: Division of Aging, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States; Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology and Research Information Center (MAVERIC) and Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Research Center (GRECC), Boston Veterans Affairs Healthcare System, Boston, MA, United States.
authors.forename: J Michael
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Gaziano
authors.affiliation: Division of Aging, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States; Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology and Research Information Center (MAVERIC) and Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Research Center (GRECC), Boston Veterans Affairs Healthcare System, Boston, MA, United States.
authors.forename: Luc
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Djoussé
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003069:Coffee; D000072226:Computed Tomography Angiography; D017023:Coronary Angiography / Q000379:methods; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D058226:Plaque, Atherosclerotic; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D061205:Vascular Calcification / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D003069:Coffee
keywords: Atherosclerosis; Coffee consumption; Coronary artery calcium; Epidemiology; Nutrition