# Repeated measures of coffee consumption and risk of future incident venous thromboembolism—the Trøndelag Health Study and the Tromsø study

## TL;DR

Drinking 1-2 cups of coffee daily may lower the risk of venous thromboembolism, especially pulmonary embolism, according to a large population study.

## Contribution

This study is the first to use repeated measures of coffee consumption over time to assess its association with venous thromboembolism risk.

## Key findings

- Consuming 1-2 cups of coffee per day was linked to a 21% lower risk of venous thromboembolism compared to nonconsumers.
- The protective effect was stronger for pulmonary embolism than for deep vein thrombosis.
- The association remained consistent even after adjusting for major confounders like age, sex, and BMI.

## Abstract

A limited number of epidemiological studies have reported mixed results on the association between coffee consumption and risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE).

We aimed to investigate the association between repeated measures of coffee consumption over time and risk of incident VTE in a large population-based cohort.

Participants (N = 112,784) were recruited from 4 surveys of the Tromsø Study (enrolment: 1994-2008) and 2 surveys of the Trøndelag Health Study (enrolment: 1995-2008) and followed through 2020. Information on coffee consumption and major confounders (age, sex, body mass index, physical activity, arterial cardiovascular diseases, and cancer) was updated at each survey. Time-varying Cox regression models were used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) for VTE across categories of coffee consumption.

There were 178,696 observation periods and 3419 VTEs during follow-up. A threshold effect was observed, and those who drank 1 to 2 cups of coffee per day had 21% lower risk of overall VTE (HR, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.68-0.93) than nonconsumers. The inverse association of coffee consumption (1-2 cups/d) with VTE was more pronounced for pulmonary embolism (HR, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.58-0.89) than for deep vein thrombosis (HR, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.70-1.09). The HRs for VTE remained similar across categories of higher coffee consumption after adjustments for major potential confounders. The association of coffee consumption with VTE risk was similar in women and men.

Coffee consumption was associated with a nonlinear lower risk of overall VTE and, in particular, pulmonary embolism.

•Studies on coffee consumption and risk of VTE have shown mixed results.•We investigated the association between coffee consumption and risk of VTE in a cohort of 112,784 individuals.•Those who drank 1 to 2 cups of coffee per day had 21% lower risk of VTE than nonconsumers.•Coffee consumption was associated with a lower risk of overall VTE and, in particular, PE.

Studies on coffee consumption and risk of VTE have shown mixed results.

We investigated the association between coffee consumption and risk of VTE in a cohort of 112,784 individuals.

Those who drank 1 to 2 cups of coffee per day had 21% lower risk of VTE than nonconsumers.

Coffee consumption was associated with a lower risk of overall VTE and, in particular, PE.