Influenza Vaccination and Plasma Concentrations of Theophylline in Patients with Asthma and COPD

Abstract

This study attempts to quantify the plasma concentrations of theophylline in patients receiving long term treatment with this drug, and the changes in these concentrations (compared with a control group) when an influenza vaccine was administered. A prospective, open, controlled, comparative pharmacokinetic study was carried out on 34 outpatients (20 males, 14 females). All were receiving long term treatment with orally administered sustained-release theophylline for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or bronchial asthma. Patients were non-randomly included into one of the following study groups: (a) the control group, which received only theophylline, and (b) the influenza-vaccinated group, which received Pasteur influenza vaccine and the same type of theophylline as the former group. Theophylline concentrations showed no significant differences between vaccinated and nonvaccinated patients throughout the study. Within each group (vaccinated and nonvaccinated), the variations in theophylline plasma concentration were minimal and not statistically significant.