Introduction
Whether coffee drinking is a risk factor for coronary
heart disease continues to be controversial. Some epidemiologic
evidence has linked heavy coffee consumption to
elevations in total serum cholesterol or low density lipoprotein
cholesterol,'-3 suggesting a mechanism for the association
of coffee and coronary heart disease. Several investigators
have reported an increased risk of coronary heart disease
morbidity and mortality with heavy coffee intake,4-8 but
others have questioned whether this association is independent
of cigarette smoking.9-2 Only two previous studies'3'14
have examined coffee use in relation to multiple behaviors
other than smoking, that could themselves be associated with
hyperlipidemia and/or coronary heart disease. In this paper,
the coffee drinking habits of a southern California populationbased
cohort of older men and women were examined in
relation to multiple putative heart disease risk factors to
determine the extent to which coffee drinking is associated
with other atherogenic behaviors.