Drinking coffee may reduce risk of recurrent AFib
Drinking coffee may help patients with atrial fibrillation (AFib) significantly reduce their risk of recurrent AFib episodes, according to new data presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2025 conference. The findings were also published in full in JAMA.[1]
Physicians commonly tell AFib patients to reduce their coffee consumption due to a shared belief that caffeinated coffee is a proarrhythmic substance. However, whether or not this recommendation is truly beneficial remains unclear.
“An accurate understanding of any effect of caffeinated coffee on AFib would be of great interest to patients and physicians alike,” wrote senior author Gregory M. Marcus, MD, MAS, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues.
The study’s authors tracked data from 200 AFib patients with a mean age of 69 years old. While 71% of patients were men, a vast majority were white. All study participants had a history of drinking about one cup of caffeinated coffee per day. While half of the group was randomly chosen to stop drinking coffee—and avoid caffeine altogether—the other half kept on drinking coffee at their usual pace.
Overall, after six months, 47% of patients who were still drinking coffee and 64% of patients who gave up coffee experienced a recurrent AFib or atrial flutter episode lasting longer than 30 seconds. This equals a 39% lower risk for patients drinking about one cup of coffee per day.
When excluding atrial flutter, the group noted, this trend remained the same.
“The present trial, where measured and unmeasured confounders should have been balanced via randomized allocation, suggests that caffeinated coffee consumption may reduce recurrence of persistent AFib compared with abstinence from coffee and other caffeinated products,” the authors wrote. “Moreover, a continued separation of survival curves over time implies that this difference may be more attributable to a benefit of coffee consumption rather than harm from abrupt coffee cessation and withdrawal.”
The authors did emphasize that their research had certain limitations. The sample size was “modest,” for example, and the study was not blinded.
In addition, many screened patients did not wish to participate.
“While many did not want to abstain from coffee for the length of this trial, many also believed that coffee worsened AFib,” the authors wrote. “While it is possible this was an effect of the long-held conventional wisdom, it remains possible that some select individuals are truly triggered by coffee. If so, this subpopulation may have been underrepresented.”
Click here to read the full analysis in JAMA. Click here for additional details about the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2025 conference.
Michael has more than 19 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.