Exercise to Enhance Smoking Cessation: the Getting Physical on Cigarette Randomized Control Trial

• Published in: Annals of behavioral medicine Vol. 50; no. 3; pp. 358 - 369
• Main Authors: Prapavessis, Harry, De Jesus, Stefanie, Fitzgeorge, Lindsay, Faulkner, Guy, Maddison, Ralph, Batten, Sandra
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.06.2016; Oxford University Press
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Behavior modification; Cognitive Therapy; Combined Modality Therapy; Exercise; Exercise - physiology; Exercise - psychology; Family Medicine; Female; General Practice; Health behavior; Health Psychology; Humans; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Middle Aged; Original Article; Smoking cessation; Smoking Cessation - methods; Tobacco Use Cessation Products; Tobacco Use Disorder - drug therapy; Tobacco Use Disorder - psychology; Tobacco Use Disorder - therapy; Treatment Outcome; Young Adult; NRT; Smoking cessation; Exercise; Maintenance
• ISSN: 0883-6612; 1532-4796
• DOI: 10.1007/s12160-015-9761-9

Background Exercise has been proposed as a useful smoking cessation aid. Purpose The purpose of the present study is to determine the effect of an exercise-aided smoking cessation intervention program, with built-in maintenance components , on post-intervention 14-, 26- and 56-week cessation rates. Method Female cigarette smokers ( n  = 413) participating in a supervised exercise and nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) smoking cessation program were randomized to one of four conditions: exercise + smoking cessation maintenance, exercise maintenance + contact control, smoking cessation maintenance + contact control or contact control. The primary outcome was continuous smoking abstinence. Results Abstinence differences were found between the exercise and equal contact non-exercise maintenance groups at weeks 14 (57 vs 43 %), 26 (27 vs 21 %) and 56 (26 vs 23.5 %), respectively. Only the week 14 difference approached significance, p  = 0.08. Conclusions An exercise-aided NRT smoking cessation program with built-in maintenance components enhances post-intervention cessation rates at week 14 but not at weeks 26 and 56.