Caffeine consumption can extend the life expectancy of people with kidney disease, this Portuguese study reveals. Important findings, because coffee consumption is a simple measure of lifestyle, which explain this benefit of caffeine by its effects at the vascular level, caffeine promoting the release of substances, such as nitric oxide, which improve the vessel operation.
An inverse relationship between coffee consumption and mortality has been reported in the general population. However, the association between caffeine consumption and mortality in patients with chronic kidney disease remained unclear. Researchers from Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Norte (Lisbon) demonstrate here that caffeine consumption is associated with lower mortality in their participants with chronic kidney disease. The study is conducted with 4,863 participants followed up for 10 years.
- Vs participants consuming fewer caffeinated beverages, caffeine consumers were found to be more likely to be male, current or ex-smokers, to binge drink, but to have a higher risk low stroke.
- The analysis finds an inverse association between caffeine consumption and all-cause mortality in participants with chronic kidney disease;
- vs participants consuming the least amount of caffeinated beverages, patients who consume higher levels of caffeine experience an almost 25% reduced risk of death over a median follow-up of 5 years.
A protective effect of caffeine consumption in patients with chronic kidney disease : the reduction in mortality is indeed valid even after taking into account other important factors such as age, sex, smoking, other diseases and diet. Thus, these data suggest that advising patients with kidney failure to drink more caffeine may help reduce their risk of mortality.
"A simple, clinically beneficial and inexpensive option", comment the authors who recall the limits of their observational study which does not prove that caffeine reduces the risk of death in patients with chronic renal failure, but suggests only the association with a reduced risk of death.