Background: Concern about drug therapy for obesity has been increased with launching of new anti-obesity drug in Korea. At present, anti-obesity drugs approved by FDA are orlistat and sibutramine. Aminophylline (xanthine derivatives) subcutaneous injection was used for regional lipolysis, but its effectiveness and safety are controversial. The purposes of this study are to investigate the effect of aminophylline subcutaneous injection on reduction of weight and waist circumference, and its safety.
Methods: Sixty-two obese women (18∼65 year) who visited obesity clinic in Asan Medical Center (AMC) and Eul-Gi hospital (EGH) were enrolled with informed consent. They were randomly assigned to aminophylline (AG) and normal saline (control) injection group (NG), and conducted weight reduction with diet, exercise, and adjuvant therapy with fluoxetine 20 mg/d. We injected aminophylline 1 cc (25 mg) or normal saline 1 cc on 4 site of abdomen subcutaneously on the same site every 2 weeks (AMC) or 1 week (EGH) during 8 week program. We measured anthropometries and dietary intakes, and monitored side effect before and after subcutaneous injection. The differences of change in variables were analyzed between AG and NG.
Results: 1) Mean age of study subjects, body weight, BMI, waist circumference, WHR, and % body fat were not different between two groups. 2) After 8 weeks of treatment, body weight (AG vs NG : 3.8 kg vs 4.4 kg), BMI (1.53 kg/m2 vs 1.75 kg/m2), waist (4.3 cm vs 4.0 cm), total body fat (2.2% vs 2.8%), and WHR (0.019 vs 0.026) were significantly decreased in each group (all P<0.05), but changes of each anthropometries were not significantly different between two groups (all P>0.05). 3) There were no significant differences in changes of energy intake and compliance between two groups. 4) Frequency of adverse reactions in AG (81.0%) was significantly higher than that in NG (29.6%).
Conclusion: Subcutaneous injection of aminophylline was not effective in reducing weight and waist circumference, and showed more frequent adverse reactions.

Keywords: Obesity, Aminophylline, Weight reduction