For patients with advanced or metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC), coffee consumption is associated with reduced risk of disease progression and death, according to a study published in JAMA Oncology. Researchers examined the association between coffee consumption and disease progression and death in a study involving 1,171 patients with previously untreated locally advanced or metastatic CRC. Among participants, 93% had died or had disease progression. The researchers observed an association between increased coffee consumption and a decreased risk for cancer progression and death (hazard ratios for one-cup/day increment, 0.95 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.91 to 1.00; P = 0.04 for trend] and 0.93 [95% CI, 0.89 to 0.98; P = 0.004 for trend], respectively). The multivariable hazard ratios for overall survival and progression-free survival were 0.82 (95% CI, 0.67 to 1.00) and 0.82 (95% CI, 0.68 to 0.99), respectively, for participants who consumed two to three cups of coffee compared with those who did not drink coffee. Patients consuming four or more cups of coffee had multivariable hazard ratios of 0.64 (95% CI, 0.46 to 0.87) and 0.78 (95% CI, 0.59 to 1.05) for overall and progression-free survival, respectively. “Incorporating coffee drinking into treatment strategies for patients with CRC has practical appeal, but such recommendations require further research,” write the authors of an accompanying editorial.
