Background: Administration of caffeine or caffeinated coffee in laboratory and ambulatory settings results in small to moderate acute increases in blood pressure (BP). However, habitual coffee intake has not been linked conclusively to long-term increases in basal BP, and findings are inconsistent by sex. This study examined longitudinal relations of habitual coffee use to resting BP and pulse pressure.
Methods: In a sample of 2,442 participants from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA), coffee consumption was used to predict resting systolic and diastolic BP and pulse pressure using longitudinal mixed-effects regression models adjusted for age, education, antihypertensive, and antihyperlipidemic use, smoking, and body mass index (BMI). Analyses were stratified by sex (865 women and 1,577 men), and age and BMI were examined as possible effect modifiers.
Results: In men, we identified a significant three-way interaction among coffee intake (nonlinear), baseline age, and length of follow-up for systolic BP (SBP) and pulse pressure. A significant interaction of coffee intake and BMI (nonlinear) was also noted for SBP in men. There were no significant relations of coffee intake to BP or pulse pressure in women.
Conclusion: Greater coffee intake in men was associated with steeper age-related increases in SBP and pulse pressure, particularly beyond 70 years of age and in overweight to obese men.