The investigators hypothesise that patients with COPD will have beneficial responses to low dose theophylline and prednisone, superior to placebo and low dose theophylline alone, reflected by a range of clinical outcomes.
The study aims to demonstrate that treatment with low dose oral prednisone and low dose, slow release theophylline compared to low dose, slow release theophylline only or placebo will reduce COPD exacerbations and improve a range of secondary outcomes including quality of life, COPD Assessment Test (CAT) score, hospital admissions and lung function.
Eligible participants will be randomised to one of three treatment arms in a DBRCT and will receive placebo OR low-dose theophylline (100 mg twice a day) OR low-dose theophylline 100 mg twice a day (BD) plus low-dose prednisone (5 mg once a day)
Patients will be eligible for inclusion if all the following criteria are met:
* Current or former smokers (\>10 pack years) or biomass exposure
* 40 - 80 years of age
* Clinical diagnosis of COPD
* Post-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume at one second (FEV1) \<70% predicted
* Post bronchodilator FEV1/forced vital capacity (FVC) ratio\<0.7
