You are seeing this message because your Web browser does not support basic Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing and what you can do to make your experience on this site better.


ABOUT ARCHIVES
Advanced Search

Welcome   | My Account | E-mail Alerts | Access Rights | Sign In


  Vol. 156 No. 5, 11 MARCH 1996 TABLE OF CONTENTS
  Archives
  •  Online Features
  ORIGINAL INVESTIGATIONS
 This Article
 •References
 •Full text PDF
 •Send to a friend
 • Save in My Folder
 •Save to citation manager
 •Permissions
 Citing Articles
 •Citation map
 •Citing articles on HighWire
 •Contact me when this article is cited
 Related Content
 •Similar articles in this journal
 Social Bookmarking
  Add to CiteULike Add to Connotea Add to Del.icio.us Add to Digg Add to Reddit Add to Technorati Add to Twitter What's this?

A Prospective Study of Coffee Drinking and Suicide in Women

Ichiro Kawachi, MD; Walter C. Willett, MD; Graham A. Colditz, MD; Meir J. Stampfer, MD; Frank E. Speizer, MD

Arch Intern Med. 1996;156(5):521-525.


Abstract

Background
Among the many reported central nervous system effects of long-term caffeine use is improvement in mood.

Objective
To examine prospectively the relationship of coffee and caffeine intake to risk of death from suicide.

Methods
We conducted a 10-year follow-up study (1980 to 1990) in an ongoing cohort of 86 626 US female registered nurses aged 34 to 59 years in 1980, who were free of diagnosed coronary heart disease, stroke, or cancer. Information on coffee and caffeine intake was collected by a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire in 1980. Deaths from suicide were determined by physician review of death certificates.

Results
Fifty-six cases of suicide occurred during 832 704 person-years of observation. Compared with non-drinkers of coffee, the age-adjusted relative risk of suicide in women who consumed two to three cups per day was 0.34 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.17 to 0.68) and 0.42 (95% CI, 0.21 to 0.86) in women who consumed four or more cups per day (P for linear trend=.002). These findings remained essentially unchanged after adjusting for a broad range of potential confounding factors, including smoking habit, alcohol intake, medication use (diazepam and phenothiazine), history of comorbid disease (hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, or diabetes), marital status, and self-reported stress. A strong inverse relationship was similarly found for caffeine intake from all sources and risk of suicide.

Conclusions
The data suggest a strong inverse association between coffee intake and risk of suicide. Whether regular intake of coffee or caffeine has clinically significant effects on the maintenance of affect or the prevention of depression merits further investigation in clinical trials and population-based prospective studies.

(Arch Intern Med. 1996;156:521-525)



Author Affiliations

From the Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Mass (Drs Kawachi, Willett, Colditz, Stampfer, and Speizer), and the Departments of Health and Social Behavior (Dr Kawachi), Epidemiology (Drs Willett, Colditz, and Stampfer), and Nutrition (Drs Willett and Stampfer), Harvard School of Public Health, Boston.



Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Body Mass Index and Risk of Suicide Among Men
Mukamal et al.
Arch Intern Med 2007;167:468-475.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Coffee and Cirrhosis: Active Ingredients?--Reply
Klatsky et al.
Arch Intern Med 2006;166:2405-2405.
FULL TEXT  

A new proposed guidance system for beverage consumption in the United States
Popkin et al.
Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 2006;83:529-542.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Stress and suicide in the Nurses' Health Study
Feskanich et al.
J. Epidemiol. Community Health 2002;56:95-98.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Desperately Seeking Serendipity: The Past, Present, and Future of Antidepressant Therapy
Rappa et al.
Journal of Pharmacy Practice 2001;14:560-569.
ABSTRACT  

Actions of Caffeine in the Brain with Special Reference to Factors That Contribute to Its Widespread Use
Fredholm et al.
Pharmacol. Rev. 1999;51:83-133.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Caffeine as a Stimulant Against Suicide
Szekely
Arch Intern Med 1997;157:243-244.
ABSTRACT  

Coffee and Suicide in Women
JWatch Psychiatry 1996;1996:8-8.
FULL TEXT  

COFFEE AND SUICIDE IN WOMEN
JWatch General 1996;1996:4-4.
FULL TEXT  





HOME | CURRENT ISSUE | PAST ISSUES | TOPIC COLLECTIONS | CME | SUBMIT | SUBSCRIBE | HELP
CONDITIONS OF USE | PRIVACY POLICY | CONTACT US | SITE MAP
 
© 1996 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.