Arch Dis Child 1997;77:239-241 ( September )
Enhanced drug metabolism in young children with cystic fibrosis
A C Parker,a
P Pritchard,a
T Preston,b
R L Smyth,a
I Choonaraa
a Institute of Child Health, Alder Hey Children's
Hospital, Liverpool, b Scottish Universities Research and
Reactor Centre, East Kilbride, Scotland
Correspondence to: Professor I Choonara,
Academic Division of Child Health, Derbyshire Children's Hospital,
Uttoxeter Road, Derby DE22 3NE.
Accepted 16 June
1997
The effect of cystic fibrosis on caffeine metabolism was
studied in young children using the caffeine breath test. Eight
children with cystic fibrosis aged 2-6 years and nine age matched
controls were studied on a single occasion, and the cumulative
percentage of labelled caffeine exhaled as carbon dioxide measured over
two hours. This was significantly higher in the patients with cystic fibrosis than in controls, suggesting an increase in the CYP1A2 metabolic pathway in the former. The fact that these were young children with minimal lung and liver disease suggests that enhanced drug metabolism in children with cystic fibrosis is hereditary rather
than secondary to lung and liver damage.
Keywords:
caffeine metabolism;
cystic fibrosis
© 1997 by Archives of Disease in Childhood
