Caffeinated coffee shows no impact on headache frequency during hemodialysis
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Patients who consumed caffeinated coffee in the middle of hemodialysis sessions were not less likely to develop a headache than those who were given decaffeinated coffee, according to research conducted in Lebanon.
“Headache has been reported in up to 76% of chronic [hemodialysis] HD patients,” Mabel H. Aoun, MD, MPH, of Saint-Joseph University in Beirut, and colleagues wrote. “Dialysis headache is defined by the International Headache Society (IHS) as a headache occurring or worsening during HD and disappearing within 72 hours after the end of the session.”
As caffeine withdrawal has been pointed to as a potential cause, the authors noted, they sought to determine whether coffee consumption during dialysis might decrease intradialytic headache episodes, as well as intradialytic hypotension.
For the study, 139 patients were randomized to receive either 80 mL of regular coffee or decaffeinated coffee in the middle of their hemodialysis session for 12 consecutive sessions.
“This cup of 12.5 g of coffee contains approximately 200 mg of caffeine, which is stronger than the single espresso cup that contains only 63 mg of caffeine,” the researchers wrote. “We considered this amount of caffeine sufficient to relieve a caffeine-withdrawal headache, based on the definition of the IHS.”
Findings indicated no difference between groups in headache occurrence (33.3% of those in the regular coffee group vs. 37.1% in decaffeinated group) or in number of hypotensive episodes (26.9% vs. 25.7%, respectively).
“Headache was noted in 35% of HD patients of this trial,” Aoun and colleagues wrote. “It was absent in patients who are not regular coffee consumers.”
Further, although caffeine intake did not impact intradialytic headache incidence, researchers found it did decrease headache in patients who had lower blood pressure levels and lower serum potassium levels; this finding, they concluded, warrants additional study.
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