INFLUENZA VACCINATION AND PLASMA-CONCENTRATIONS OF THEOPHYLLINE IN PATIENTS WITH ASTHMA AND COPD

This study attempts to quantify the plasma concentrations of theophyll ine in patients receiving long term treatment with this drug, and the changes in these concentrations (compared with a control group) when a n 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 ora lly administered sustained-release theophylline for chronic obstructiv e pulmonary disease or bronchial asthma. Patients were nonrandomly inc luded into one of the following study groups: (a) the control group, w hich received only theophylline, and (b) the influenza-vaccinated grou p, which received Pasteur influenza vaccine and the same type of theop hylline as the former group. Theophylline concentrations showed no sig nificant differences between vaccinated and nonvaccinated patients thr oughout the study. Within each group (vaccinated and nonvaccinated), t he variations in theophylline plasma concentration were minimal and no t statistically significant.