Coffee not linked to heart arrhythmia
Large survey finds no extra hospitalizations in java drinkers
By Nathan Seppa
Too much coffee may bring on jitters, but this doesn’t seem to translate into heart-rhythm problems, a new study shows. People knocking back cup after cup had no more hospitalizations for heart arrhythmia — and may even have had slightly fewer — than did people who dodge the java altogether, researchers at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, Calif., report.
The finding should reassure people who have heart-rhythm problems or are at risk of them that they don’t need to abstain from drinking coffee, says study coauthor Arthur Klasky, a cardiologist at Kaiser Permanente Division of Research. The study results were released March 2 and will be presented March 5 at a meeting in San Francisco of the American Heart Association.
Klasky and his team examined health records of more than 130,000 men and women who entered a health study in the 1970s and 1980s. The subjects ranged in age from 18 to 90; participants underwent a physical exam and reported their lifestyle habits upon enrollment.
About 2 percent were hospitalized for heart arrhythmias between being enrolled and 2008.