Li S, et al. - In this cohort study involving 82,737 women in the Nurses’ Health Study II (NHS II), researchers assessed the relationship between the risk of incident rosacea and intake of caffeine, including coffee consumption. Overall, they noted an inverse association between increased caffeine intake from coffee and the risk of incident rosacea. Limiting caffeine intake as a means to prevent rosacea was not supported in this analysis.

Methods

• The entire analysis was conducted from June 2017 to June 2018.
• Every 4 years during follow-up, data on coffee, tea, soda, and chocolate consumption were collected.
• In 2005, information was collected on the history of clinician-diagnosed rosacea and year of diagnosis.

Results

• In 2005, a total of 82,737 women answered the question of rosacea diagnosis in NHS II and were included in the final analysis (mean [SD] age at study entry, 50.5 [4.6] years).
• Four thousand, nine hundred forty-five incident cases of rosacea were identified during 1,120,051 person-years of follow-up.
• An inverse association was found between increased caffeine intake and risk of rosacea (hazard ratio for the highest quintile of caffeine intake vs the lowest, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.69-0.84; P < 0.001 for trend) after adjustment for other risk factors.
• For caffeinated coffee consumption (HR, 0.77 for those who consumed ≥ 4 servings/day vs those who consumed < 1/month; 95% CI, 0.69-0.87; P < 0.001 for trend) but not for decaffeinated coffee (HR, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.56-1.14; P=0.39 for trend), a significant inverse association with the risk of rosacea was also observed.
• Upon further analyses, researchers also noted that increased intake of caffeine from foods other than coffee (tea, soda, and chocolate) was not significantly linked to reduced rosacea risk.