Coffee, Arrhythmias, and Common Sense

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Abstract
"Bathing, exercise, fear, anger and any other state of mind may often be apt to excite the pulse," noted Celsus in A.D. 178. With the passage of nearly two milleniums, additions have been made to the list of factors that may upset the heartbeat. Clinical impressions and popular anecdotes relate arrhythmia to the consumption of caffeine, alcohol, and tobacco. In this issue of the Journal, Dobmeyer and co-workers1 have further documented an aspect of caffeine's effect on cardiac excitability.The initial scientific stimulus for the examination of factors exogenous to the heart that perturbed its rhythm was the work . . .