Addition of Theophylline or Increasing the Dose of Inhaled Corticosteroid in Symptomatic Asthma: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

PURPOSE: Low-dose theophylline has anti-inflammatory effects. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of adding theophylline compared with increasing the dose of inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) on symptomatic asthma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The associated literature was acquired through deliberate searching and selected based on the established inclusion criteria for publications. The extracted data were further analyzed by a meta-analysis RESULTS: Four randomized, controlled, parallel studies were selected. Addition of theophylline produced a greater increase of forced expiratory volume in one second as %predicted (FEV1pred) by 2.49% [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.99-3.00; z = 9.70; p < 0.001], compared with increasing the dose of ICS. There was no difference between the two treatments in terms of peak expiratory flow (PEF). CONCLUSION: Addition of theophylline to ICS has similar therapeutic effects on improving lung function as increasing the dose of ICS in the treatment of symptomatic asthma.

Discussion of our hospital's expansion of services offered by the department of anaesthesiology / 中华医院管理杂志

Expansion of services offered by the department of anaesthesiology in a hospital not only satisfies social needs but also conforms to the hospitals need for survival and development. Hence some hospitals have adopted the following methods to expand the services offered by their department of anaesthesiology: ①improvement of the anaesthesiologists skills; and ②delivery of such additional services as painless childbirth, deep vein tube placement, dressing change and pain easing for patients with extensive burn, fast extrication from drugs, painless endoscopy and treatment of pain. With the improvement of the expertise and the service quality of the department of anaesthesiology, sound social and economic benefits have been obtained.