Caregiver Depressive Symptoms and Primary Medication Nonadherence in Children With Asthma.

Only 25 children lacked pharmacy records, so statistical power was limited. A pharmacy that reported no record may not have searched fully, which could misclassify some children as nonadherent. Pharmacy records do not show whether a physician prescribed controller medication, and emergency department providers may prescribe controller medications less often than primary care or specialist providers. Most data besides pharmacy records came from caregiver report, which can be affected by recall and social desirability bias. The sample was limited to low-income, urban, racial minority children with persistent uncontrolled asthma who sought emergency care, so the findings may not apply to other children or settings.

The authors report no conflicts of interest and are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Do not conclude that treating caregiver depression will improve asthma medication adherence. The study found an association between caregiver depressive symptoms and absent pharmacy records, and it did not test an intervention.