ReviewEuropean respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society2018
Efficacy and safety profile of xanthines in COPD: a network meta-analysis.
Review in European respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 54 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prevalence of sarcopenia in COPD patients using AWGS criteria among Asian populations: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2026Pooled it
- The Impact of Corticosteroids on Human Airway Smooth Muscle Contractility and Airway Hyperresponsiveness: A Systematic Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Pooled it
- Effects of doxofylline as an adjuvant on severe exacerbation and long-term prognosis for COPD with different clinical subtypes.The clinical respiratory journal · 2023Trial
- Potential of doxofylline in the treatment of chronic obstructive airway diseases (Review).Biomedical reports · 2025Review
- A narrative review of theophylline: is there still a place for an old friend?Journal of thoracic disease · 2024Review
- Theophylline derivatives promote primordial follicle activation via cAMP-PI3K/Akt pathway and ameliorate fertility deficits in naturally aged mice.International journal of biological sciences · 2024Article
- Mucus Hypersecretion in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Its Treatment.Mediators of inflammation · 2023Review
- Respiratory questionnaire-based analysis of awareness of COPD in a large multicenter rural population-based study in India.Chronic diseases and translational medicine · 2022Article
- An Unexpected Deuterium-Induced Metabolic Switch in Doxophylline.ACS medicinal chemistry letters · 2022Article
- Methylxanthine Treatment in Patients Hospitalized for Acute Exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in China: A Real-World Study Using Propensity Score Matching Analysis.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2022Article
- An audit of patients admitted to hospital in Nepal for COPD exacerbation.SAGE open medicine · 2022Article
- Effect of terbutaline plus doxofylline on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.American journal of translational research · 2021Article
- Fluvastatin combined with corbrin capsule can improve depression and anxiety in the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.American journal of translational research · 2021Article
- Effect of Doxofylline on Reducing the Inflammatory Response in Mechanically Ventilated Rats with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease · 2021Article
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- Urinary Incontinence in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A Common Co-morbidity or a Typical Adverse Effect?Drugs & aging · 2019Article
- Efficacy and safety profile of mucolytic/antioxidant agents in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a comparative analysis across erdosteine, carbocysteine, and N-acetylcysteine.Respiratory research · 2019Article
- Formulation and Characterization of New Polymeric Systems Based on Chitosan and Xanthine Derivatives with Thiazolidin-4-One Scaffold.Materials (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Article
- Efficacy and safety profile of doxofylline compared to theophylline in asthma: a meta-analysis.Multidisciplinary respiratory medicine · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 6 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Theophylline can still have a role in the management of stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but its use remains controversial, mainly due to its narrow therapeutic window. Doxofylline, another xanthine, is an effective bronchodilator and displays a better safety profile than theophylline. Therefore, we performed a quantitative synthesis to compare the efficacy and safety profile of different xanthines in COPD.The primary end-point of this meta-analysis was the impact of xanthines on lung function. In addition, we assessed the risk of adverse events by normalising data on safety as a function of person-weeks. Data obtained from 998 COPD patients were selected from 14 studies and meta-analysed using a network approach.The combined surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA) analysis of efficacy (change from baseline in forced expiratory volume in 1 s) and safety (risk of adverse events) showed that doxofylline was superior to aminophylline (comparable efficacy and significantly better safety), bamiphylline (significantly better efficacy and comparable safety), and theophylline (comparable efficacy and significantly better safety).Considering the overall efficacy/safety profile of the investigated agents, the results of this quantitative synthesis suggest that doxofylline seems to be the best xanthine for the treatment of COPD.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.