Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31914160›Full record

ArticlePloS one2020

Association between coffee drinking and telomere length in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial.

Bella Steiner, Leah M Ferrucci, Lisa Mirabello, Qing Lan, Wei Hu, Linda M Liao, Sharon A Savage, Immaculata De Vivo, Richard B Hayes, Preetha Rajaraman and 3 more

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PloS one, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
0.7field-weighted citation impact, top 31% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 10 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Caffeine Modulates Cell Death and Telomerase Activity in Triple-negative Breast Cancer Cells.International journal of molecular and cellular medicine · 2025
    Article
  3. Role of telomere length in human carcinogenesis (Review).International journal of oncology · 2023
    Review
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

13 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Bella SteinerYale School of Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States of America.ORCID 0000-0002-2841-6038
Leah M FerrucciYale School of Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States of America.
Lisa MirabelloDivision of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States of America.
Qing LanDivision of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States of America.
Wei HuDivision of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States of America.
Linda M LiaoDivision of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States of America.
Sharon A SavageDivision of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States of America.
Immaculata De VivoHarvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, United States of America.
Richard B HayesNYU Langone Health, New York, NY, United States of America.
Preetha RajaramanDivision of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States of America.
Wen-Yi HuangDivision of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States of America.
Neal D FreedmanDivision of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States of America.
Erikka LoftfieldDivision of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States of America.
National Institutes of Health · USYale University · USHarvard University · US

Funding

Yale Clinical and Translational Science Award (U Component)UL1TR001863 · NCATS · YALE UNIVERSITY · PI John H. Krystal, LUCILA OHNO-MACHADO · 2016 to 2026
$102.9M
Etiologic Studies of Diet and CancerZIACP010127 · NCI · DIVISION OF CANCER EPIDEMIOLOGY AND GENETICS · PI ABNET, CHRISTIAN · 2009 to 2025
$3.5M
NCATS NIH HHS UL1 TR001863
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Mounting evidence indicates that coffee, a commonly consumed beverage worldwide, is inversely associated with various chronic diseases and overall mortality. Few studies have evaluated the effect of coffee drinking on telomere length, a biomarker of chromosomal integrity, and results have been inconsistent. Understanding this association may provide mechanistic insight into associations of coffee with health. The aim of our study was to test the hypothesis that heavier coffee intake is associated with greater likelihood of having above-median telomere length. We evaluated the cross-sectional association between coffee intake and relative telomere length using data from 1,638 controls from four previously conducted case-control studies nested in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial. Coffee intake was assessed using a food frequency questionnaire, and relative telomere length was measured from buffy-coat, blood, or buccal cells. We used unconditional logistic regression models to generate multivariable-adjusted, study-specific odds ratios for the association between coffee intake and relative telomere length. We then conducted a random-effects meta-analysis to determine summary odds ratios. We found that neither summary continuous (OR = 1.01, 95% CI = 0.99-1.03) nor categorical (OR <3 cups/day vs. none = 1.37, 95% CI = 0.71-2.65; OR ≥3 cups/day vs. none = 1.47, 95% CI = 0.81-2.66) odds ratio estimates of coffee drinking and relative telomere length were statistically significant. However, in the largest of the four contributing studies, moderate (<3 cups/day) and heavy coffee drinkers (≥3 cups/day) were 2.10 times (95% CI = 1.25, 3.54) and 1.93 times as likely (95% CI = 1.17, 3.18) as nondrinkers to have above-median telomere length, respectively. In conclusion, we found no evidence that coffee drinking is associated with telomere length. Thus, it is unlikely that telomere length plays a role in potential coffee-disease associations.

Indexed as

CoffeeAgedCaffeineColorectal NeoplasmsCross-Sectional StudiesFemaleHumansLung NeoplasmsMaleMiddle AgedOvarian NeoplasmsProstatic NeoplasmsTelomere HomeostasisCaffeineCoffee

Identifiers

PMID31914160
PMCPMC6948744
OpenAlexW2999899233

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC0
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.