Reduced coffee consumption among individuals with primary sclerosing cholangitis but not primary biliary cirrhosis

Background & Aims: Coffee consumption has been associated with decreased risk of liver disease and related outcomes. However, coffee drinking has not been investigated among patients with cholestatic autoimmune liver diseases, primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), or primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC). We investigated the relationship between coffee consumption and risk of PBC and PSC in a large North American cohort. Methods: Lifetime coffee drinking habits were determined from responses to questionnaires from 606 patients with PBC, 480 with PSC, and 564 healthy volunteers (controls). Patients (those with PBC or PSC) were compared with controls by using the Wilcoxon rank sum test for continuous variables and c² method for discrete variables. Logistic regression was used to analyze the estimate of the effects of different coffee parameters (time, frequency, and type of coffee consumption) after adjusting for age, sex, smoking status, and education level. Results: Patients with PBC and controls did not differ in coffee parameters. However, 24% of patients with PSC had never drunk coffee compared with 16% of controls (P <.05), and only 67% were current drinkers compared with 77% of controls (P <.05). Patients with PSC also consumed fewer lifetime cups per month (45 vs 47 for controls, P <.05) and spent a smaller percentage of their lifetime drinking coffee (46.6% vs 66.7% for controls, P <.05). These differences remained significant in a multivariate model. Among PSC patients with concurrent ulcerative colitis, coffee protected against proctocolectomy (hazard ratio, 0.34; P <.001). Conclusions: Coffee consumption is lower among patients with PSC, but not PBC, compared with controls.