(P21-025-24) Coffee Consumption and Prostate Cancer Risk in the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta Carotene Cancer Prevention Study

Objectives: To evaluate the association between coffee consumption and prostate cancer risk.

Methods: We evaluated 27,111 male Finnish smokers, ages 50-69 years, from the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention (ATBC) Study cohort with self-reported coffee consumption data. Multivariable proportional hazard regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for prostate cancer risk based on 2,584 men with a prostate cancer diagnosed during 30 years of follow-up.

Results: Thirty percent of the men reported consuming at least three cups of coffee daily (overall median, 2.3 cups/day). Compared with men consuming the least coffee daily ( >0-1 cups/day; 11.5%), those who drank >4 cups/day (12.8%) had a statistically significant increase in prostate cancer risk (HR: 1.23, 95% CI: 1.04-1.46; overall p-trend < 0.001), whereas non-coffee drinkers (2.5%) had the lowest risk (HR: 0.81, 95% CI: 0.59-1.12). HRs for the intermediate coffee consumption categories were 1.00 (95% CI: 0.87-1.16) for >1-2 cups/day (26.6%); 1.05 (95% CI: 0.91-1.21) for >2-3 cups/day (29.9%), and 1.13 (95% CI: 0.97-1.32) for >3-4 cups/day (16.7%). Elevated risk among the heaviest coffee drinkers was similar for men diagnosed with non-aggressive disease (stage < =2 and Gleason score < 8) or aggressive disease (stage >=3 or Gleason score >=8): HR=1.22 (95% CI: 0.96-1.54), p-trend=0.02 and HR=1.37 (95% CI: 1.00-1.88), p-trend=0.01, respectively. Prostate cancer risk was also similar across subgroups based on age at randomization, BMI, cigarettes smoked/day, years of smoking, alcohol consumption, and trial supplementation group, but the elevated risk did appear greater for taller men: comparing highest coffee consumption ( >4 cups/day) to lowest ( >0-1 cups/day), HR=1.47 (95% CI: 1.15-1.88), p-trend= 0.002 versus HR=1.06 (95% CI: 0.84-1.33), p-trend= 0.06 for men with height below the median value of 174.0 cm.

Conclusions: In this population of male smokers, consuming more than 4 cups of coffee daily was associated with significantly increased prostate cancer risk.

Funding Sources: The ATBC Study is supported by the Intramural Research Program of the U.S. National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.