Pharmacokinetics of caffeine in patients with decompensated type I and type II diabetes mellitus.

Diabetes may alter the pharmacokinetics of aminopyrine and antipyrine, which are used to assess liver function. Caffeine has recently been used to test liver function, but the effect of diabetes on caffeine kinetics is not known. The kinetics of caffeine has been examined in patients with decompensated Type I and Type II diabetes and in two age- and sex-matched control groups. In both types of diabetes the apparent caffeine clearance, half-life, and apparent volume of distribution were similar to controls. It is concluded that decompensated diabetes does not influence the cytochrome P-448 mono-oxygenase system responsible for caffeine metabolism.