Standards of laboratory practice: theophylline and caffeine monitoring

Article Figures & Data

Table 1.

Theophylline and caffeine information.

Drug	Half-life (range), h	Time to steady-state	V_D,¹ L/kg	Protein binding	Therapeutic range	Critical value	Route/interval
Theophylline	Adults (healthy) nonsmokers, 9 (3–12); smokers, 4; adults (liver cirrhosis), 10–56;	2–3 days	0.5–0.7	55–65%; <36%, neonates and adults with liver cirrhosis	8–20 mg/L, asthma; 6–11 mg/L, neonatal apnea	>20 mg/L	Oral rapid release, 4–6 h; slow release, 12–24 h
	children, 4 (2–10);	1–2 days
	infants (4–52 weeks of age), 3–14;	1–5 days
	neonates/premature infants, 30;	∼6 days
	healthy newborn, 24	∼5 days
Caffeine	Neonate, 41–230	NA	0.6–0.7	29–43%	8–20 mg/L	>50 mg/L