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(Circulation. 2002;105:e9109.)
© 2002 American Heart Association, Inc.

Cardiovascular News

Ruth SoRelle, MPH

Circulation Newswriter

Tea for All?

Tea, the serendipitous find of a legendary Chinese emperor >5000 years ago, elevated to an art form in historic Japan and a spark in the American Revolution, perhaps now assumes a new role—protector of hearts.

In this week’s issue of Circulation (Circulation. 2002;105:2476–2481), a team of researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Harvard School of Public Health, found that patients who reported moderate or heavy tea drinking in the year before suffering an acute myocardial infarction were less likely to die than their non–tea-drinking compatriots.

"In summary, we found that tea consumption is associated with greater survival following acute myocardial infarction," concluded the researchers, led by Kenneth J. Mukamal, MD, MPH, MA, of Beth Israel. "This finding was consistent for total and cardiovascular mortality and did not change with further adjustment after we controlled for age and sex." They noted that more controlled studies are needed to confirm these observational findings.

Dr Mukamal and his colleagues performed a prospective cohort study on 1900 patients hospitalized with a confirmed acute myocardial infarction between 1989 and 1994. The patients were part of the Determinants of Myocardial Infarction Onset Study. They analyzed long-term mortality rates of tea consumers. Of the 1900 patients, 1019 consumed no tea, 655 drank <14 cups per week, and 216 drank 14 cups of tea each week.

Age- and sex-adjusted mortality was lower among the moderate and heavy tea drinkers than among those who drank no tea. The association . . . [Full Text of this Article]