Binge drinking and poor mental health may affect adherence to treatment for individuals with asthma. The purposes of this research were to:

• Examine the relationship of self-reported binge drinking and mental health to adherence to daily asthma control medications; and,
• Identify other demographic and health-related factors associated with asthma control medication adherence.
• Secondary analyses of 2003 adult California Health Interview Survey data were undertaken, and these analyses identified 3.2 million California adults who had been told by a physician that they had asthma. Of these, approximately 1.7 million were symptomatic. Binge drinking significantly predicted medication non-adherence among California adults with symptomatic asthma, whereas poor mental health did not. Other predictors of non-adherence included being overweight, being younger in age, having some college education, being a current smoker and having no usual source of medical care. Predictors of adherence were older age, more frequent asthma symptoms, more emergency room visits, more missed work days, being African American, and being a non-citizen.

Intervention efforts could be directed toward improving medication adherence among adult asthma patients who engage in risky health behaviors such as binge drinking. Also at risk for medication non-adherence (and therefore good targets for asthma control medication management interventions) are adults who are overweight, younger (18-44 age range), have some college education and have no usual source of medical care.