Impaired elimination of caffeine in cirrhosis.

The effect of cirrhosis on the disposition and elimination of caffeine was examined. Caffeine (250 mg) was administered orally to 15 healthy controls and eight patients with cirrhosis. The elimination half-life was prolonged from 5.2 +/- 2.4 hr (mean +/- SD) in controls to 6.1 +/- 1.9 hr in cirrhotics, although this did not reach statistical significance. The plasma clearance, however, was significantly higher (1.4 +/- 0.5 ml/min/kg) in controls as compared to cirrhotics (0.9 +/- 0.3 ml/min/kg) (P less than 0.05). The plasma binding of caffeine was also lower in cirrhotics (31.3 +/- 1.8% vs 25.5 +/- 4.0%, P less than 0.01). The plasma clearance of unbound caffeine therefore was reduced from 2.0 +/- 0.7 ml/min/kg in controls to 1.2 +/- 0.4 ml/min/kg (P less than 0.01) in cirrhotics, demonstrating impaired elimination of caffeine in cirrhosis.