Abstract: Objective: To explore the potential categories of Inhaled Corticosteroids (ICS) adherence in adults with asthma, so as to provide a reference for targeted intervention to improve ICS adherence in patients with asthma. Methods: We conducted a questionnaire survey on the medication adherence, medication belief and depression status of 399 patients enrolled by convenience sampling in a tertiary grade A hospital in Shenyang from October 2020 to October 2021. Then latent class analysis was used to classify the ICS adherence. We also employed disordered multi-classification Logistic regression analysis to determine the associated factors of each class. Results: The adherence of ICS in asthma patients could be divided into three potential classes, namely "good overall adherence-unintentional non-adherence tendency type" (52.1%), "moderate overall adherence-mixed non-adherence type" (26.6%) and "poor overall adherence-intentional non-adherence tendency type" (21.3%). Depressive symptoms (P<0.001), necessity beliefs (P=0.024) and concerns beliefs (P=0.005) were the influencing factors of ICS adherence categories. Conclusion: There is significant group heterogeneity in the medication adherence of asthma patients with depressive symptoms and medication beliefs being the influencing factors of adherence categories. Healthcare professionals should evaluate the adherence categories and psychological status of asthma patients, understand the patients' perspectives of their diseases and treatment to carry out targeted interventions.

Key words: asthma; adherence; depression; medication beliefs; latent class analysis