Tea consumption, incidence and long-term prognosis of a first acute myocardial infarction--the SHEEP study.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Results of previous studies on tea consumption and incidence or prognosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) are conflicting. The aim of the present study was to examine the potential role of tea consumption in the previous 12 months in primary and secondary prevention of AMI. METHODS: We studied a total of 1340 individuals with a first non-fatal AMI and 2303 frequency matched control participants on age, gender and hospital catchment area including querying their tea consumption over the previous 12 months. The cohort of AMI cases was then followed for total and cardiac mortality and for non-fatal cardiovascular events with national registers over 8 years. Estimates of relative risks for a first AMI were based on odds ratios from unconditional logistic regression and Cox proportional hazards models were used to examine the prognostic importance of tea consumption in the cohort of cases. RESULTS: The prevalence of daily tea consumption was 20.5% among cases and 21.5% among controls. Tea consumption was associated with a lower risk for a first AMI with adjustment for matching criteria alone, with an odds ratio of 0.78 (95% confidence interval, 0.64-0.95) comparing those who consumed tea daily to those never consuming tea. However, in multivariable adjusted model there was no evidence for an association, the corresponding odds ratio was 1.08(0.86-1.36). There was also no association between tea consumption and cardiac mortality and non-fatal cardiovascular events, with a corresponding adjusted hazard ratio of 0.99(0.77-1.27). CONCLUSIONS: In this epidemiological study, greater tea consumption in the previous year was associated with a lower risk of AMI. However, a clear association between tea consumption and the incidence or prognosis of AMI was not demonstrated, probably because of tea drinkers having a healthier lifestyle.

Coffee consumption may influence hippocampal volume in young women.

Caffeine is the most often used psychoactive substance. Caffeine may influence neuroplasticity in animals. We investigated the relationship between caffeine intake (coffee consumption) and brain morphology. Forty-five healthy, non-smoking women aged 19-30 were included in the present study. We used semi-automatic user-independent MR volumetry and voxel-based morphometry. We investigated the relationship between caffeine intake (coffee consumption) and the volumes of the cortical brain structures where caffeine is supposed to act. We found that high-level and low-level caffeine intake was associated with a larger hippocampus compared to moderate-level caffeine intake. The other brain structures showed no association with coffee consumption or caffeine intake. The U-shape association between caffeine concentration and its effect has already been described in some experimental studies. To our knowledge this is one of the very first studies, which tries to find an association between brain morphology and coffee consumption or caffeine intake in humans using MR imaging.

Coffee consumption and mortality after acute myocardial infarction: the Stockholm Heart Epidemiology Program.

BACKGROUND: Cohort studies have suggested little effect of coffee consumption on risk of acute myocardial infarction. The effect of coffee consumption on prognosis after myocardial infarction is uncertain. METHODS: In a population-based inception cohort study, we followed 1,369 patients hospitalized with a confirmed first acute myocardial infarction between 1992 and 1994 in Stockholm County, Sweden, as part of the Stockholm Heart Epidemiology Program. Participants reported usual coffee consumption over the preceding year with a standardized questionnaire distributed during hospitalization and underwent a health examination 3 months after discharge. Participants were followed for hospitalizations and mortality with national registers through November 2001. RESULTS: A total of 289 patients died during follow-up. Compared with intake of <1 cup per day, coffee consumption was inversely associated with mortality, with multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios of 0.68 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.45-1.02) for 1 to <3 cups, 0.56 (95% CI 0.37-0.85) for 3 to <5 cups, 0.52 (95% CI 0.34-0.83) for 5 to <7 cups, and 0.58 (95% CI 0.34-0.98) for > or =7 cups per day (P trend .06). Coffee intake was not associated with hospitalization for congestive heart failure or stroke. Candidate lipid and inflammatory biomarkers did not appear to account for the observed inverse association with mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Self-reported coffee consumption at the time of hospitalization for myocardial infarction was inversely associated with subsequent postinfarction mortality in this population with broad coffee intake. If confirmed in other settings, identification of relevant mechanisms could lead to an improved prognosis for survivors of acute myocardial infarction.

Daily stress and social support among women with CAD: results from a 1-year randomized controlled stress management intervention study.

BACKGROUND: Psychosocial stress may play a causative role in development and progression of coronary artery disease (CAD). PURPOSE: We investigated the effects of a 1-year stress management program on daily stress behavior and social support among female CAD patients. METHOD: Women, 247 (

Self-rated health and vital exhaustion, but not depression, is related to inflammation in women with coronary heart disease.

Poor subjective well-being has been associated with increased coronary heart disease (CHD) morbidity and mortality in population-based studies and with adverse outcomes in existing CHD. Little is known about the mechanisms responsible for this association, but immune activity appears to be a potential pathway. Despite the growing evidence linking immune activity to subjective feelings, very few studies have examined patients with CHD, and the results are conflicting. We examined consecutive women patients hospitalized for acute myocardial infarction, and/or underwent percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty or coronary artery bypass grafting. We assessed depression, vital exhaustion, and self-rated health by questionnaires. Circulating levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra) concentrations were determined. After controlling for potential confounding factors there was a significant positive correlation between IL-6 levels and vital exhaustion and poor self-rated health. The association between hsCRP and vital exhaustion and self-rated health was borderline significant. In contrast, the correlations between psychological factors and IL-1ra levels were weak and non-significant, as were the correlations between inflammatory markers and depression. Similar relationships between the inflammatory markers and the measures of psychological well-being were obtained when the latter ones were categorized into tertiles. In conclusion, inflammatory activity, assessed by IL-6 and hsCRP levels, was associated with vital exhaustion and self-rated health in CHD women. These findings may provide further evidence for a possible psychoneuroimmune link between subjective well-being and CHD. Our observations also raise the possibility that a cytokine-induced sickness response in CHD may be better represented by constructs of vital exhaustion and self-rated health than of depression.