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Published on: February 11, 2019
Theophylline effects on cognition, behavior, and learning
1Children's Rehabilitation Hospital, Philadelphia, Pa.
Insights
Hospitalized children taking theophylline showed no significant differences in attention, hyperactivity, or academic achievement compared to non-asthmatic children. Theophylline does not appear to negatively impact these cognitive and behavioral measures in most pediatric asthma patients.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Pulmonology
- Neuropsychology
- Clinical Psychology
Background:
- Theophylline is a common medication for asthma management in children.
- Potential side effects of theophylline, including behavioral and cognitive changes, warrant investigation.
- Understanding the impact of theophylline on children's attention and academic performance is crucial for effective treatment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare cognitive, attention, and academic achievement in hospitalized asthmatic children receiving theophylline versus non-asthmatic children.
- To assess potential links between theophylline use and measures of distractibility, attention, hyperactivity, and academic performance.
- To determine if theophylline treatment affects key developmental and learning outcomes in pediatric patients.
Main Methods:
- A comparative study involving hospitalized children.
- Standardized psychological tests were administered to measure cognition, attention, and learning.
- Asthmatic children on theophylline were matched with non-asthmatic children on age, sex, socioeconomic status, and IQ, excluding those with pre-existing neurological or learning issues.
Main Results:
- No statistically significant differences were observed between the theophylline group and the non-asthmatic control group across all measured variables.
- Cognitive function, attention, distractibility, hyperactivity, and academic achievement remained comparable between the two groups.
- Results were analyzed using independent t tests at a 95% confidence level.
Conclusions:
- Theophylline, at therapeutic levels, does not appear to significantly impair attention, hyperactivity, memory, or academic achievement in hospitalized asthmatic children.
- While rare idiosyncratic side effects are possible, theophylline is generally not associated with widespread negative cognitive or behavioral impacts in this population.
- These findings suggest that theophylline can be safely used in pediatric asthma without major concerns for these specific outcomes.
Objective:
To compare a group of hospitalized asthmatic children taking theophylline with a similar group of hospitalized nonasthmatic children on standardized measures of distractibility, attention, hyperactivity, and academic achievement.
Design:
Standardized psychological tests were used to measure cognition, attention, and learning, and results for the two groups were compared.
Setting:
All subjects were hospitalized in an intermediate care facility.
Patients:
Up to 63 asthmatic children taking theophylline were compared with a group of 46 nonasthmatic children matched for age, sex, socioeconomic status, and full-scale IQ. Children with head injuries, mental retardation, or known learning disabilities were not included.
Interventions:
All asthmatic children and none of the nonasthmatic children maintained therapeutic levels of theophylline during the evaluation period.
Main Outcome Measures:
Independent t tests were used to examine differences between groups on psychological tests of cognition, attention, and learning.
Results:
No significant differences were found between groups on any variables at the 95% level of confidence.
Conclusions:
While idiosyncratic side effects of theophylline are possible, most children are not more hyperactive, distractible, short of memory, different in academic achievement, or more impulsive than other children with chronic illness.
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