Suyun Li, Ph.D., from the Qingdao University in China, and colleagues conducted a cohort study involving 82,737 women in the Nurses’ Health Study II to examine the correlation between the risk for incident rosacea and caffeine intake.

The researchers identified 4,945 incident cases of rosacea during 1,120,051 person-years of follow-up. Increased caffeine intake was inversely associated with the risk for rosacea after adjustment for other risk factors (hazard ratio for the highest versus the lowest quintile of caffeine intake, 0.76; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.69 to 0.84; P < 0.001 for trend). For caffeinated coffee consumption, there was also a significant inverse association (hazard ratio, 0.77 for those who consumed at least four servings/day versus less than one per month; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.69 to 0.87; P < 0.001 for trend); no correlation was seen for decaffeinated coffee (hazard ratio, 0.80; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.56 to 1.14; P = 0.39 for trend). There was no correlation between increased caffeine intake from foods other than coffee and decreased risk for rosacea.

“Our findings do not support limiting caffeine intake as a preventive strategy for rosacea,” the authors write. “Further studies are required to explain the underlying mechanisms of observed associations.”

Several authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.