The study, "Effects of Physical Activity on Teen Smoking Cessation," in the October 2011 issue of Pediatrics (published online Sept. 19), examined whether adding physical activity to smoking cessation efforts increased quit rates.
Researchers recruited 233 teens who had recently smoked at least one cigarette from 19 public schools in West Virginia. Students were randomly assigned to one of three groups: a brief intervention, the Not on Tobacco (N-O-T) teen smoking cessation program, and N-O-T plus physical activity that included a challenge log and a pedometer (N-O-T+FIT).
For both genders, the N-O-T program had a significant overall effect on smoking cessation compared to the brief intervention. Boys participating in the N-O-T+FIT group were four times more likely to stop smoking than those in the other two groups. In the N-O-T+FIT group, 13.75 percent of participants reported quitting for at least 7 days at the end of the program. In the N-O-T group, the 7-day quit rate was 11.11 percent. In the brief intervention group, the 7-day quit rate was 4.76 percent.
Overall, girls quit more successfully with N-O-T while boys did better with NOT+ FIT.
