Caffeine consumption and exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: Retrospective study

Background: the modulation of adenosine receptors has been proposed as new therapeutic target for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,but studies in humans were negative. caffeine is widely consumed and acts by non-selective modulation of these receptors,allowing for a non-interventional evaluation of the purinergic effects on copd. we evaluated the effects of chronic caffeine consumption on the risk for copd exacerbations. methods: retrospective study including patients with copd. the total number of exacerbations during a three-year period and the mean daily caffeine consumption in the last twenty years were evaluated. a univariate and multiple regression analysis were performed for evaluation of the significant predictors of exacerbations. results: a total of 90 patients were included. most were males (82.2%) and had a mean forced expiratory volume in the first second (fev1) of 57.0 ± 17.1% predicted. the mean daily caffeine consumption was 149.7 ± 140.9 mg. there was no correlation between the mean caffeine consumption and exacerbations (p > 0.05). discussion: our results suggest that caffeine has no significant effect on the frequency of copd exacerbations. these conclusions are limited by the sample size and the retrospective nature of the study. © 2015 sociedade portuguesa de pneumologia.