title: Maintenance oral theophylline therapy: suggested schedule in elderly patients.
abstract: 18 elderly patients (17 male and 1 female) with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and 2 elderly patients (1 male, 1 female) with an acute asthmatic attack were treated with theophylline. Receiving the same intravenous loading dose (5.6 mg/kg) and oral maintenance dosage (1,500 mg), the patients were divided into two groups (A and B) differentiated only by the time interval between oral doses (tau). Group A was treated every 8 h, and group B every 6 h. Although theophylline levels in both groups were similar during the infusion period, patients in group B fared significantly better (p less than 0.01) than patients in group A in reaching a therapeutic blood theophylline level. We conclude that an average dosage of 20 mg/kg of theophylline divided in 6-hour intervals is the more effective schedule in elderly patients without cardiac or hepatic involvement.
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D000368:Aged; D001249:Asthma / Q000188:drug therapy*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007263:Infusions, Parenteral; D008173:Lung Diseases, Obstructive / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male; D013806:Theophylline / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D013806:Theophylline