Coffee, caffeine, and risk of depression among women (1)
“Coffee, caffeine and risk of depression among women” was a research study based on U.S. women which examined if consumption of coffee or caffeine and the risk of depression had an inverse association among the women being studied. Based on previous research, the authors hypothesized that coffee or caffeine consumption and depression risk were inversely associated among women.
Methodology
A cohort method was used for this study. A total of 50,739 U.S women, were tracked during a period of 10 years (from 1996 to 2006). Women with pre-existing depressive disorders were excluded from this cohort. Caffeine consumption was tracked using validated questionnaires throughout the 10-year period. …show more content…
They could not confirm the relationship between caffeine or caffeinated coffee consumption and depression risk for the entire cohort due to the lack of high consumption drinkers. The relationship between non-coffee caffeinated drinks and depression could not be addressed due to the same reason.
To improve the results, the researchers could have changed how they divided the cohort. They should have first categorized individuals based on the amount of coffee consumed every day and then looked for the same number of consumers for each category. Therefore, each category would have a standardized number of individuals. This could prevent the lack of sample size for certain categories. Also, they should have studied participants who only drank non-coffee caffeinated drink separately.
The strengths of this study were the large sample size which was tracked for a decent period of time. Also, the impact of confounding variables was mitigated by excluding individuals who may have had pre-existing depressive symptoms from their cohort which improved the accuracy of the result. However, this study also had many weaknesses. It is hard to conduct blind experiments when using a cohort method. Placebo effect may have appeared as participants may have reported fewer symptoms on the questionnaires if they believed consuming caffeine reduced the risk of
“Coffee, caffeine and risk of depression among women” was a research study based on U.S. women which examined if consumption of coffee or caffeine and the risk of depression had an inverse association among the women being studied. Based on previous research, the authors hypothesized that coffee or caffeine consumption and depression risk were inversely associated among women.
Methodology
A cohort method was used for this study. A total of 50,739 U.S women, were tracked during a period of 10 years (from 1996 to 2006). Women with pre-existing depressive disorders were excluded from this cohort. Caffeine consumption was tracked using validated questionnaires throughout the 10-year period. …show more content…
They could not confirm the relationship between caffeine or caffeinated coffee consumption and depression risk for the entire cohort due to the lack of high consumption drinkers. The relationship between non-coffee caffeinated drinks and depression could not be addressed due to the same reason.
To improve the results, the researchers could have changed how they divided the cohort. They should have first categorized individuals based on the amount of coffee consumed every day and then looked for the same number of consumers for each category. Therefore, each category would have a standardized number of individuals. This could prevent the lack of sample size for certain categories. Also, they should have studied participants who only drank non-coffee caffeinated drink separately.
The strengths of this study were the large sample size which was tracked for a decent period of time. Also, the impact of confounding variables was mitigated by excluding individuals who may have had pre-existing depressive symptoms from their cohort which improved the accuracy of the result. However, this study also had many weaknesses. It is hard to conduct blind experiments when using a cohort method. Placebo effect may have appeared as participants may have reported fewer symptoms on the questionnaires if they believed consuming caffeine reduced the risk of