Maintenance oral theophylline therapy: suggested schedule in elderly patients

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.