03 Apr Coffee Associated With Lower Risk of Death From Non-Viral Cirrhosis
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Woon-Puay Koh (Associate Professor)
Office of Clinical Sciences
Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore
8 College Road Level 4 | Singapore 169857
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: The main finding is that coffee intake was associated with a lower risk of death from cirrhosis, specifically for non-viral hepatitis related cirrhosis. Subjects who drank two or more cups per day had a 66% reduction in mortality risk, compared to non-daily coffee drinkers. However, coffee intake was not associated with viral hepatitis B related cirrhosis mortality.
MedicalResearch.com: Were any of the findings unexpected?
Answer: Although these findings are not unexpected, since other experimental and epidemiologic studies have shown that coffee may reduce liver damage in patients with chronic liver disease, our study is the first to demonstrate the protective effect for non-viral hepatitis related cirrhosis but not for viral B related cirrhosis mortality. This finding resolves the seemingly conflicting results on the effect of coffee in Western and Asian-based studies of death from liver cirrhosis.
MedicalResearch.com: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?
Answer: Our finding suggests that while the benefit of coffee may be less apparent in the Asian population where chronic viral hepatitis B predominates. Currently, this is expected to change as the incidence of non-viral hepatitis related cirrhosis is expected to increase in these regions, accompanying the increasing affluence and westernizing lifestyles amongst their younger populations. Given that coffee is widely consumed globally, it has significant clinical and public health implications, although further research is required to confirm these findings before we can take it the next level of application.
MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?
Answer: Further research should evaluate coffee as a potential therapeutic agent in patients with non-viral B related chronic liver diseases in randomized interventional trials.
Citation:
Coffee, alcohol and other beverages in relation to cirrhosis mortality: the Singapore Chinese Health Study
DOI: 10.1002/hep.27054 Journal Hepatology
Last Updated on April 3, 2014 by Marie Benz MD FAAD