A comparison of the central nervous system effects of caffeine and theophylline in elderly subjects

Yu, G, Maskray, V, Jackson, S H, Swift, C G, Tiplady, B and Maskrey, Vivienne (1991) A comparison of the central nervous system effects of caffeine and theophylline in elderly subjects. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 32 (3). pp. 341-345. ISSN 0306-5251

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Abstract

1. The effects of oral administration of 250 mg caffeine or theophylline and placebo on subjective ratings and psychological test performance were studied in a double-blind crossover experiment in 20 healthy elderly subjects. 2. Performance on the continuous attention task showed a significant improvement compared with placebo with both active treatments. Performance with caffeine was significantly better than with theophylline. Mean error index scores (normalised AUCs) were: placebo--0.130; caffeine--0.083; theophylline--0.093. No other objective measure shows significant treatment effects. 3. Subjective ratings showed that subjects felt significantly more alert on caffeine than on either theophylline or placebo. Subjects also rated themselves as more energetic and interested on caffeine than on placebo. 4. Plasma concentrations of caffeine were lower than those of theophylline (mean 5.76 and 8.72 mg l-1 respectively at 2 h post-drug. 5. These results suggest that caffeine is a more potent CNS stimulant than theophylline.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	aged,caffeine,central nervous system,double-blind method,humans,middle aged,neuropsychological tests,psychomotor performance,reference values,theophylline
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	30 Apr 2015 12:26
Last Modified:	21 Oct 2022 00:51
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/53219
DOI:	10.1111/j.1365-2125.1991.tb03909.x

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