Coffee drinking and mortality, diabetes and hearing loss - Two New Studies In Annals Of Internal Medicine

Main Category: Diabetes
Also Included In: Hearing / Deafness;  Nutrition / Diet
Article Date: 19 Jun 2008 - 4:00 PST

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This month's Internal Medicine Report looks at two key studies: Coffee drinking and mortality, and a connection between diabetes and hearing loss.

There is good news for coffee drinkers. A new study published in Annals of Internal Medicine found that regular coffee drinking (up to 6 cups per day) is not associated with increased deaths in either men or women. In fact, both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee consumption is associated with a somewhat smaller rate of death from heart disease. The study looked at data on more than 84,000 women between 1980 and 2004 and nearly 42,000 men between 1986 and 2004 to examine the relationships between coffee drinking and risks for dying from heart disease, cancer, or any cause. The study found that women consuming two to three cups of caffeinated coffee per day had a 25 percent lower risk of death from heart disease and an 18 percent lower risk of death caused by something other than cancer or heart disease as compared with non-consumers during follow-up. In this report you'll hear from one of the study's authors, Rob Van Dam, PhD, of the Harvard Medical School.

The second study focuses on the link between diabetes and hearing impairment. Here researchers found a link between the two and suggest that diabetes patients may want to have their hearing screened. The study found that 28 percent of people with diabetes had hearing impairment in the lower mid frequency range, and 68 percent of people with diabetes had hearing impairment in the high frequency range. In this report you'll hear from the lead study author, Kathleen Bainbridge, PhD, plus Laura Baldwin, a woman who was diagnosed with diabetes at age 30, then suffered hearing impairment several years later.

Annals of Internal Medicine