WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A new clinical trial called Does Eliminating Coffee Avoid Fibrillation or Decaf found that people who drank coffee were less likely to have recurring irregular heartbeats compared to those who avoided it.
The study involved 200 patients with persistent atrial fibrillation (A-fib), a condition that causes an irregular heartbeat and can lead to heart failure, blood clots, or stroke.
The six-month trial included older adults from the U.S., Canada, and Australia who had regularly consumed coffee in the past five years. Participants were split into two groups: one that avoided caffeine and another that drank at least one cup daily. Their heart activity was tracked using electrocardiograms and wearable monitors, and they checked in through video calls.
The findings, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and presented at the American Heart Association conference in New Orleans, found that those who drank coffee had a 47 percent risk of the condition returning, compared to 64 percent among those who didn't.
Lead researcher Gregory Marcus from the University of California, San Francisco, said the results suggest that caffeinated coffee may actually help protect against A-fib, challenging long-held medical advice that patients should avoid caffeine.
However, the study has some limitations as the researchers didn't account for caffeine from other drinks or differences in participants' exercise and diet habits.
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