Reliability of salivary theophylline in monitoring the treatment for apnoea of prematurity.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the reliability of salivary levels of theophylline in monitoring therapy of apnoea of prematurity.


METHODS
Aminophylline was administered intravenously in 13 infants with apnoea, in a loading dose of 5 mg/kg and maintenance dose of 3 mg/kg, every 8 h. The patients were divided into two groups according to their postconceptional age (PCA): group A, of infants with small PCA (32.8+/-2.0 weeks; n=6 cases), and group B, infants with higher PCA (37.1+/-0.8 weeks; n=7 cases).


RESULTS
A total of 57 paired samples of serum and saliva were obtained in all 13 infants. The mean serum level of theophylline was 7.8+/-5.8 microg/ml and the ratio between serum and salivary concentration of theophylline was 1.53+/-0.28. A strong correlation between the serum and salivary concentration of theophylline (r=0.973) was found. Infants with small PCA had significant higher serum concentration of theophylline than those with higher PCA (10.6 vs 5.3 microg/ml; P=0.0002). The difference between the mean ratios of serum/salivary theophylline levels in the two groups was low (1.44 vs 1.62; P=0.0155).


CONCLUSIONS
The strong correlation of theophylline in serum and in saliva recommends the salivary levels as a reliable method for monitoring the treatment of apnoea of prematurity.
Chereches-Panta
P
P
The 3rd Pediatric Clinic, University of Medicine, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. pusacherechespanta@gmail.com
Nanulescu
M V
MV
Culea
M
M
Palibroda
N
N
D000628:Aminophylline / Q000493:pharmacokinetics* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001049:Apnea / Q000097:blood* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D001993:Bronchodilator Agents / Q000493:pharmacokinetics* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016903:Drug Monitoring; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007262:Infusions, Intravenous; D008297:Male; D012127:Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Newborn / Q000097:blood* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D012463:Saliva / Q000378:metabolism*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013806:Theophylline / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*
D001993:Bronchodilator Agents; D000628:Aminophylline; D013806:Theophylline