| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS | REGISTER |
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||
a National
Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland, b Social Insurance Institution, Research and
Development Centre, Turku, Finland
Correspondence to: Dr M Heliövaara, National Public Health Institute, Mannerheimintie 166, FIN-00300 Helsinki, Finland Email markku.heliovaara{at}ktl.fi
Accepted for publication 3 February 2000
BACKGROUND
Recent
epidemiological studies have suggested that smoking is a risk factor
for rheumatoid factor (RF) positive rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Being
overweight, high serum cholesterol, and dietary factors have in some
studies been found to be associated with the risk of RA. No attention,
however, has been paid to coffee consumption as a risk determinant,
though it is a shared covariate of the alleged risk factors.
OBJECTIVESThis study
aimed at examining coffee consumption for its associations with RF
positivity and with the risk of RA.
METHODSCoffee
consumption was studied, firstly, for its association with RF
(sensitised sheep cell agglutination titre 
128) in a cross sectional
survey of 6809 subjects with no clinical arthritis, and secondly, for
its prediction of RA in a cohort of 18 981 men and women who had
neither arthritis nor a history of it at the baseline examination in
1973-76. Up to late 1989, 126 subjects of the cohort study had
developed RA, of whom, 89 were positive for RF by the time of diagnosis.
RESULTSIn the cross
sectional survey the number of cups of coffee drunk daily was directly
proportional to the prevalence of RF positivity. Adjusted for age and
sex this association was significant (p value for linear trend, 0.008),
but after further adjustment for smoking the linear trend declined
below significance (p=0.06). In the cohort study there was an
association between coffee consumption and the risk of RF positive RA
that was not due to age, sex, level of education, smoking, alcohol
intake, body mass index, or serum cholesterol. After adjustment for
these potential confounders the users of four or more cups a day still
had a relative risk of 2.20 (95% confidence interval 1.13 to 4.27) for
developing RF positive RA compared with those drinking less. Coffee
consumption did not predict the development of RF negative RA.
CONCLUSIONCoffee
consumption may be a risk factor for RA, possibly through mechanisms
contributing to the production of RF. This hypothesis remains to be
tested in further studies.
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  T. Korpilahde, M. Heliovaara, P. Knekt, J. Marniemi, A. Aromaa, and K. Aho Smoking history and serum cotinine and thiocyanate concentrations as determinants of rheumatoid factor in non-rheumatoid subjects Rheumatology, November 1, 2004; 43(11): 1424 - 1428. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 P Toivanen Normal intestinal microbiota in the aetiopathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis Ann Rheum Dis, September 1, 2003; 62(9): 807 - 811. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
T Korpilahde, M Heliovaara, O Kaipiainen-Seppanen, P Knekt, and K Aho Regional differences in Finland in the prevalence of rheumatoid factor in the presence and absence of arthritis Ann Rheum Dis, April 1, 2003; 62(4): 353 - 355. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
A T MASI, J C ALDAG, R L MALAMET, D HUTCHINSON, and R MOOTS Heavy cigarette smoking and RA Ann Rheum Dis, December 1, 2001; 60(12): 1154 - 1155. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
D. Hutchinson and R. Moots Cigarette smoking and severity of rheumatoid arthritis Rheumatology, December 1, 2001; 40(12): 1426 - 1427. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
A R. Olsson, T Skogh, and G Wingren Comorbidity and lifestyle, reproductive factors, and environmental exposures associated with rheumatoid arthritis Ann Rheum Dis, October 1, 2001; 60(10): 934 - 939. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
D HUTCHINSON, R MOOTS, M HELIÖVAARA, K AHO, P KNEKT, A REUNANEN, A AROMAA, and O IMPIVAARA Coffee consumption, RF, and the risk of RA Ann Rheum Dis, May 1, 2001; 60(5): 540a - 541. [Full Text]
|
|
|
|
|
|
S E GROBER, M HELIÖVAARA, K AHO, P KNEKT, A REUNANEN, A AROMAA, and O IMPIVAARA Coffee or decaff? Ann Rheum Dis, January 1, 2001; 60(1): 87 - 87. [Full Text]
|
|
|
|
|
|
J H GLASER, M HELIÖVAARA, K AHO, P KNEKT, A REUNANEN, A AROMAA, and O IMPIVAARA Coffee consumption, RF, and the risk of RA Ann Rheum Dis, December 1, 2000; 59(12): 1000 - 1000. [Full Text]
|
|
Read all eLetters
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS | REGISTER |
