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Cancer Control Research

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Cigarette smoking continues to be the leading, preventable cause of death among American adults; however, approximately 20.9% of US adults continue to smoke. Concerns about weight gain and mood-related withdrawal symptoms following smoking cessation are known predictors of relapse. Previous large-scale intervention trials indicate that exercise is a beneficial adjunct treatment for smoking cessation, as it positively impacts both weight concerns and negative mood states. The majority of these trials, however, have focused only on women, and only on aerobic exercise. Resistance training (i.e., weight lifting), may also offer smokers a beneficial adjunctive strategy to quit smoking, as it too can both improve mood and manage body weight. As such, the proposed pilot study will test the efficacy of a resistance training program as an aid to standard smoking cessation treatment on cessation among healthy adult male and female smokers. Specifically, we plan to compare the effects of a standard smoking cessation treatment, plus a 12-week resistance training program to the same standard smoking cessation treatment plus equivalent contact control among 60 healthy men and women. Smoking cessation outcomes ([prolonged] abstinence and point prevalence abstinence) will be verified by carbon monoxide [and self-report.] Differences in post-treatment 12-week and [3-month] cessation rates between conditions will provide data for power estimates for an adequately powered clinical trial. Cigarette smoking is the second leading cause of death among Americans, as it is responsible for one out of every four deaths in the United States. As such, this proposal represents an effort to combat this public health problem by further elucidating the mechanisms of action involved in smoking cessation. It also carries the potential to discover an additional way to assist smokers in quitting smoking.