OBJECTIVE: Prior studies have investigated the association between generic health related quality of life (HRQOL) and adherence. The objective of this study is to assess the association between medication adherence HRQOL using disease specific in addition to generic instruments. METHODS: As part of a larger study a convenience sample of adult ambulatory asthma patients were recruited from community pharmacies in GA, USA. Adult asthma patients identified to participate in the study were asked to complete a self-administered HRQOL survey. Patients were asked to complete generic (Short Form - SF-12, Health Utilities Index3 - HUI3, EuroQol Index - EQ5D, EuroQoL visual analogue scale - EQVAS) and disease specific (Juniper's mini-Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire - AQLQ) HRQOL metrics. Adherence was measured using Morisky's instrument. Asthma control was assessed using Juniper's Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ, objective measure) in addition to a self assessment (5-point Likert Scale, subjective measure). SF-12 was assessed using mental and physical summary scores (MCS and PCS, respectively). RESULTS: Data were available on a convenience sample of 36 patients (25 female: 11 male) with an average age of 44.8 years. Spearman correlation between ACQ and self assessed asthma control was high (r = -0.825, p <0.001). Excluding PCS, spearman correlations between asthma control metrics (subjective and objective) and HRQOL measures were moderate to high in the predicted direction (r = 0.52 to 0.822). However, correlations between adherence and HRQOL measures were not significant. Quick relief beta-agonist use was also highly correlated with ACQ (r = 0.67, p <0.01) and moderately with HRQOL instruments in the predicted direction. CONCLUSION: Overall, our study findings show no association between adherence and HRQOL, supporting the results by Cote and colleagues (2003) that factors other than medication compliance are important in explaining HRQOL. Asthma control is a potentially important variable in predicting HRQOL in asthma patients.