Do asthma medication beliefs mediate the relationship between minority status and adherence to therapy?

Minority status has been associated with lower asthma medication adherence. We evaluated whether medication beliefs mediated this association. 86 adults with asthma on inhaled corticosteroid therapy completed surveys regarding selected beliefs about asthma medications. Medication adherence for I month was electronically measured. Mean daily adherence was lower in minority patients than in Caucasians (p < .001). Multiple negative asthma medication beliefs were associated with lower adherence (p's < .05). Minorities had increased adjusted odds of having a high negative medication beliefs score. Finally, a bootstrapped estimate demonstrated a mediating effect by negative asthma beliefs on the minority status-adherence association (-.073 [95% CI: -.16, -.011).