Background. Considerable attention has been focused in the last years on the relationships between coffee consumption and the prevention of chronic diseases. Prospective studies and systematic reviews estimated the predictive role of exposure to coffee consumption for the risk of hypertension (HP) with contrasting results.

We carried out a meta-analysis to assess the relation between coffee consumption and risk of HP in general population.

2 years. Relative risks and 95% confidence intervals for HP were calculated for(Methods. A systematic search was performed (1966-2012). Inclusion criteria were: original article, prospective design, adult subjects, and follow-up "low-moderate", "high" and "very high" consumption level vs. no consumption. Heterogeneity, publication bias, subgroup and meta-regression analyses were performed.

Results. Four studies for HP (171,460 participants) met the inclusion criteria. "Low-moderate" coffee intake showed a no significant association with risk of HP and similar results were also obtained for "high" intake and "very high" intake. Almost all analyses suggested heterogeneity between studies, with some evidence of a publication bias. Sub-group analysis found a significant difference in gender and geographic location.

Conclusions. An evidence-based epidemiological approach indicates that coffee consumption is not associated with higher risk of hypertension in general population.