Abstract
BACKGROUND: The association between coffee intake and risk of mental disorders among population-based studies remained inconsistent. Potential modification effects of sex and caffeine metabolism were less studied.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between daily coffee consumption, including different coffee subtypes (instant, ground, and decaffeinated coffee), and various mental disorders, and to explore whether the associations differ by sex or caffeine metabolic capacity.
METHODS: We conducted a prospective analysis using the UK Biobank data. Mood disorders and stress disorders were identified using ICD-10 codes from hospital inpatient records. Multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazard regression models and restricted cubic splines were used to assess the associations. We further investigated potential effect modification by sex and polygenic risk score of caffeine metabolism.
RESULTS: Among the 461,586 participants (men 46.4 %, mean age 57 years ±8.10 years, mean BMI 27.3 ± 4.71 kg/m2) involved in this analysis with a median follow-up of 13.4 years, we documented 18,220 incident cases for mood disorders and 18,547 for stress disorders. In the multivariate adjusted models, J-shaped associations between coffee consumption and mental health outcomes were observed, with the lowest risk at moderate intake level (2-3 cups per day). The association between coffee intake and mood disorders was more pronounced in men (P for interaction = 0.02); however, no evidence of effect modification was observed for caffeine metabolism genotypes.
CONCLUSIONS: J-shaped associations were identified between coffee consumption and mental disorders, suggesting that a moderate intake of coffee might be beneficial for mental health.