Coffee and Atrial Fibrillation: What's the (True) Link?

Caffeine in a wide variety of forms has been ingested for centuries for both its therapeutic properties and its social leavening effects. Research has also associated caffeine with human ills ranging from anxiety disorders to cancer and GI maladies to cardiac arrhythmias. In fact, physicians and the general public alike believe caffeine consumption induces cardiac dysrhythmias. But research on the link has to date been inconclusive.

A new study, summarized in the 6 slides below, took a meta-analytic approach to determine the true nature of the link between atrial fibrillation (AF) and caffeine consumption.