Lifestyle Enhancement Program: Evaluation of a Community-based Physical Activity Smoking Cessation Program

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of the Lifestyle Enhancement Program, a two arm, parallel group, randomized clinical trial comparing community-based physical activity (PA) program to a wellness control program as adjunctive smoking cessation treatment. METHODS: All participants (n=392) received cessation counseling and the nicotine patch and were randomized to PA (n=199; YMCA membership and personalized exercise programming from a health coach) or an equal contact wellness curriculum (n=193). Primary (CO-verified continuous smoking abstinence) and secondary (PA levels) outcomes were assessed at baseline, 7-week, 6- and 12-months. Indices of treatment perception, adherence, abstinence rates, and PA levels were compared between groups using chi-square analyses and ANOVA. RESULTS: Smoking abstinence in the PA and wellness groups were 18.6% and 23.8%, respectively at 7 weeks, 15.1% and 16.1% at 6 months, and 14.1% and 16.6% at 12 months. Between group differences did not significantly differ from each other (all p-values > 0.18). In the PA group, increases from baseline to 7 weeks were observed for total minutes of PA/week (97.8 min to 145.2 min; p