Cited by 27Coffee research and impactsStatistical Methods in EpidemiologyNutritional Studies and Diet

Biases inherent in studies of coffee consumption in early pregnancy and the risks of subsequent events

Open access
Leviton, Alan·2018·Nutrients

Published version of a preprint

Abstract

Consumption of coffee by women early in their pregnancy has been viewed as potentially increasing the risk of miscarriage, low birth weight, and childhood leukemias. Many of these reports of epidemiologic studies have not acknowledged the potential biases inherent in studying the relationship between early-pregnancy-coffee consumption and subsequent events. I discuss five of these biases, recall bias, misclassification, residual confounding, reverse causation, and publication bias. Each might account for claims that attribute adversities to early-pregnancy-coffee consumption. To what extent these biases can be avoided remains to be determined. As a minimum, these biases need to be acknowledged wherever they might account for what is reported.

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Crossref · 10.3390/nu10091152

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  • The association between female age and miscarriage risk is attributed to an age-related increase in the frequency of embryonic trisomies, particularly trisomy 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 21, and 22.

    “This association is attributed to an age-related increase in the frequency of embryonic trisomies, particularly trisomy 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 21, and 22. 60,61”

    From Miscarriage matters: the epidemiological, physical, psychological, and economic costs of early pregnancy loss (2021) · cites this paper as [60]

    The paper’s Residual Confounding section discusses miscarriage in relation to caffeine and tobacco exposure, not maternal age or embryonic trisomies. Searches for an age-related increase in trisomies, the listed chromosome numbers, and age-related chromosomal causes of miscarriage found no passage addressing the claim. Page numbers were not available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.75)

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Authors
Leviton, A.
Affiliations
Boston Children's Hospital (US)
Corresponding author
Leviton, Alan
Venue
Nutrients
Publisher
MDPI AG
Published
2018-08-23
Volume
10
Issue
9
Pages
1152
ISSN
2072-6643 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2884644273
Cited by
27
References
184
Citations by year
2025: 2 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 1
FWCI
0.41
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nutrients (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Preprints.org (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
National Coffee Association of U.S.A (123456)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Coffee research and impacts
  • Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Statistical Methods in Epidemiology
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Nutritional Studies and Diet
Keywords
coffee consumption, early pregnancy, miscarriage, low birth weight, pediatric leukemia, recall bias, misclassification, residual confounding, reverse causality, publication bias, study bias, maternal caffeine intake
MeSH terms
Abortion, Spontaneous, Caffeine, Coffee, Female, Humans, Infant, Low Birth Weight, Maternal-Fetal Exchange, Pregnancy, Risk Factors, Bias

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