Background: Therapeutic options to treat progression of end-stage liver disease (ESLD) or improve long-term survival after liver transplantation remain scarce. We investigated the impact of coffee consumption under these conditions.
Methods: We recorded coffee consumption habits of 379 patients with ESLD awaiting liver transplantation and 260 patients after liver transplantation. Survival was analyzed based on coffee intake.
Results: One hundred ninety-five patients with ESLD consumed coffee on a daily basis, while 184 patients did not. Actuarial survival was impaired (P = 0.041) in non-coffee drinkers (40.4 ± 4.3 months, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 32.0-48.9) compared with coffee drinkers (54.9 ± 5.5 months, 95% CI: 44.0-65.7). In subgroup analysis, the survival of patients with alcoholic liver disease (ALD; P = 0.020) and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC; P = 0.017) was increased with coffee intake while unaffected in patients with chronic viral hepatitis (P = 0.517) or other liver disease entities (P = 0.652). Multivariate analysis showed that coffee consumption of PSC and ALD patients retained as an independent risk factor (odds ratio [OR]: 1.94; 95% CI: 1.15-3.28; P = 0.013) along with MELD score (OR: 1.13; 95% CI: 1.09-1.17; P = 0.000). Following liver transplantation, long-term survival was longer in coffee drinkers (coffee: 61.8 ± 2.0 months, 95% CI: 57.9-65.8) than non-drinkers (52.3 ± 3.5 months, 95% CI: 45.4-59.3; P = 0.001).
Conclusions: Coffee consumption delayed disease progression in ALD and PSC patients with ESLD and increased long-term survival after liver transplantation. We conclude that regular coffee intake might be recommended for these patients.
Keywords: actuarial survival free of liver transplantation; coffee consumption; graft failure; liver transplantation; transplantation list.
© 2016 Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Foundation and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.