Does asthma or treatment with theophylline limit children's academic performance?

Asthma is a major cause of morbidity in childhood, restricting activity and causing absences from school. Theophylline, although effective in managing chronic asthma, has been reported to cause deficits in cognitive functioning and school performance. We therefore examined the effect of asthma and its treatment on academic achievement in a large, representative population of school-age children; matched sibling controls were used for comparison.

We identified 255 consecutive children with asthma (mean age, 12.0 years) who had taken nationally standardized scholastic achievement tests administered routinely by the schools. One hundred one of these children had siblings without asthma with whom comparisons could be made in reading, mathematics, and a composite measure of achievement.

Academic achievement among the children with asthma was similar to normative standards in Iowa and higher than national standards, as reflected in a mean composite T-score of 57.1 (expected mean [+/- SD], 50 +/- 10). For the 101 children with sibling controls, composite T-scores were 58.3 for the children with asthma and 57.5 for the siblings. Eighty-five of these 101 children with asthma were receiving daily maintenance medication for chronic asthma; 72 of these were receiving theophylline. The mean composite T-scores were 58.5 for the theophylline-treated patients and 58.4 for their siblings without asthma. None of the differences between the children with asthma and the sibling controls were statistically significant.

Academic achievement among children with asthma, at least those whose status is closely monitored in a structured treatment program, generally appears to be unaffected by asthma or by its treatment with appropriate doses of theophylline.