Enhanced physical activity during attempts to quit may decrease withdrawal symptoms and cigarette cravings

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Physical activity may improve teen smoking cessation rates, especially among boys, according to the results of a randomized trial reported online September 19 in *Pediatrics.*

“Studies of adult smokers have suggested that enhanced physical activity during attempts to quit may decrease withdrawal symptoms and cigarette cravings,” write Kimberly Horn, EdD, from the Translational Tobacco Reduction Research Program, West Virginia Prevention Research Center; Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center; and West Virginia University School of Medicine in Morgantown, and colleagues. “Other studies have suggested that physical activity prescribed as part of adult smoking-cessation interventions may help sustain cessation over time.”

The goal of the study was to assess the effects of physical activity on outcomes of interventions for teen smoking cessation. The study sample consisted of 233 teens 14 to 19 years old who smoked at least 1 cigarette in the previous 30 days. West Virginia high schools with more than 300 students were selected randomly and were assigned to a brief intervention (BI), a proven teen cessation program known as Not on Tobacco (N-O-T), or N-O-T in addition to a physical activity intervention (N-O-T + FIT). Self-classified and 7-day point prevalence quit rates were used to evaluate quit rates at 3 and 6 months after baseline. At the 3-month follow-up assessment, carbon monoxide validation was also obtained.

Ref and Read more: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/750027?sssdmh=dm1.720000&src=nldne

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