THEOPHYLLINE EFFECTS ON COGNITION, BEHAVIOR, AND LEARNING

Objective: To compare a group of hospitalized asthmatic children takin g theophylline with a similar group of hospitalized nonasthmatic child ren on standardized measures of distractibility, attention, hyperactiv ity, and academic achievement. Design: Standardized psychological test s were used to measure cognition, attention, and learning, and results for the two groups were compared. Setting: All subjects were hospital ized in an intermediate care facility. Patients: Up to 63 asthmatic ch ildren taking theophylline were compared with a group of 46 nonasthmat ic children matched for age, sex, socioeconomic status, and full-scale IQ. Children with head injuries, mental retardation, or known learnin g disabilities were not included. Interventions: All asthmatic childre n and none of the nonasthmatic children maintained therapeutic levels of theophylline during the evaluation period. Main Outcome Measures: I ndependent 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 ef fects of theophylline are possible, most children are not more hyperac tive, distractible, short of memory, different in academic achievement , or more impulsive than other children with chronic illness.