Gender-dependent effect of coffee consumption on tremor severity in de novo Parkinson’s disease

BACKGROUND: Coffee consumption represents a negative risk factor for Parkinson’s disease (PD) and seems to affect PD motor symptoms. We aimed to investigate the association between coffee consumption and motor symptoms in de novo PD patients. METHODS: In total, 284 patients with de novo PD were included in the current study. Motor and non-motor symptoms were evaluated using various scales. History of coffee consumption was obtained via a semi-structured interview. RESULTS: In total, 204 patients were categorized as coffee drinkers and 80 as non-coffee drinkers. Coffee drinkers were predominantly male and had early symptom onset; in addition, they were younger, reported more years in formal education, and had better motor and non-motor scores than did non-coffee drinkers. After adjustments, coffee drinkers had lower tremor scores than did non-coffee drinkers, and coffee consumption was related to tremors in a dose-dependent manner. These relationships were statistically significant in case of rest tremor but not in case of action tremor. The dose-dependent relationship between coffee consumption and tremor severity was significant only in men. Non-motor symptom scores were not significantly different between coffee drinkers and non-coffee drinkers. CONCLUSIONS: Coffee consumption and tremor severity are inversely related in male patients with de novo PD.