Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1893/27053
Appears in Collections:Faculty of Health Sciences and Sport Systematic Reviews
Peer Review Status: Refereed
Title: Exercise interventions for smoking cessation
Author(s): Ussher, Michael
Taylor, Adrian
Faulkner, Guy
Contact Email: michael.ussher@stir.ac.uk
Citation: Ussher M, Taylor A & Faulkner G (2014) Exercise interventions for smoking cessation. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2014 (8), Art. No.: CD002295. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD002295.pub5
Issue Date: 29-Aug-2014
Date Deposited: 22-Mar-2018
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell for The Cochrane Collaboration
Abstract: Background: Taking regular exercise may help people give up smoking by moderating nicotine withdrawal and cravings, and by helping to manage weight gain.  Objectives: To determine whether exercise-based interventions alone, or combined with a smoking cessation programme, are more effective than a smoking cessation intervention alone.  Search methods: We searched the Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group Specialized Register in April 2014, and searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, and CINAHL Plus in May 2014.  Selection criteria: We included randomized trials which compared an exercise programme alone, or an exercise programme as an adjunct to a cessation programme, with a cessation programme (which we considered the control in this review). Studies were required to recruit smokers or recent quitters and have a follow-up of six months or more. Studies that did not meet the full inclusion criteria because they only assessed the acute effects of exercise on smoking behaviour, or because the outcome was smoking reduction, are summarised but not formally included.  Data collection and analysis: We extracted data on study characteristics and smoking outcomes. Because of differences between studies in the characteristics of the interventions used we summarized the results narratively, making no attempt at meta-analysis. We assessed risk of selection and attrition bias using standard methodological procedures expected by The Cochrane Collaboration.  Main results: We identified 20 trials with a total of 5,870 participants. The largest study was an internet trial with 2,318 participants, and eight trials had fewer than 30 people in each treatment arm. Studies varied in the timing and intensity of the smoking cessation and exercise programmes offered. Only one included study was judged to be at low risk of bias across all domains assessed. Four studies showed significantly higher abstinence rates in a physically active group versus a control group at end of treatment. One of these studies also showed a significant benefit for exercise versus control on abstinence at the three-month follow-up and a benefit for exercise of borderline significance (p = 0.05) at the 12-month follow-up. Another study reported significantly higher abstinence rates at six month follow-up for a combined exercise and smoking cessation programme compared with brief smoking cessation advice. One study showed significantly higher abstinence rates for the exercise group versus a control group at the three-month follow-up but not at the end of treatment or 12-month follow-up. The other studies showed no significant effect for exercise on abstinence.  Authors' conclusion: Only two of the 20 trials offered evidence for exercise aiding smoking cessation in the long term. All the other trials were too small to reliably exclude an effect of intervention, or included an exercise intervention which may not have been sufficiently intense to achieve the desired level of exercise. Trials are needed with larger sample sizes, sufficiently intense interventions in terms of both exercise intensity and intensity of support being provided, equal contact control conditions, and measures of exercise adherence and change in physical activity in both exercise and comparison groups.
Article no.: CD002295
Type: Journal Article
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1893/27053
Affiliation: Institute for Social Marketing
Plymouth University Peninsula School of Medicine and Dentistry
University of Toronto

Files in This Item:
File Description SizeFormat 
Ussher-Cochrane Review.pdfFulltext - Published Version1.05 MBAdobe PDFView/Open



This item is protected by original copyright



Items in the Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

The metadata of the records in the Repository are available under the CC0 public domain dedication: No Rights Reserved https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

If you believe that any material held in STORRE infringes copyright, please contact library@stir.ac.uk providing details and we will remove the Work from public display in STORRE and investigate your claim.