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Theophylline and caffeine - Therapeutic uses and adverse effects
Theophylline, a lot of commercial preparations are available, and caffeine are prescribed for various therapeutic uses:
- Vigilance stimulation: it is caffeine which is used, generally in the form of coffee or tea. Excesses of caffeine consumption cause insomnia and nervousness.
- Bronchodilation: treatment of chronic asthma and other obstructive chronic lung diseases. Theophylline was formerly one of the drugs most used in the treatment of asthma
- Stimulation of respiration, treatment of apnea of premature neonates: caffeine and theophylline, by their central stimulant effect, can reduce frequency and duration of apnea.
Adverse effects of caffeine and theophylline are in general dose/dependant, i.e. proportional to their plasma concentrations, and relate mainly to the central nervous system and the cardiovascular system.
- Central nervous system: nervousness, excitation, agitation, insomnia, tremors, and, with high concentrations, seizures, delusion.
- Heart: tachycardia, palpitations, arrhythmia.
- Digestive system: nausea, vomiting.
When these disorders result from an excessive coffee consumption they are called caffeinism.
A coffee cup supplies approximately 80 mg of caffeine and a cup of tea, 50 mg.
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