The efficacy of vigorous-intensity exercise as an aid to smoking cessation in adults with elevated anxiety sensitivity: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

The efficacy of vigorous-intensity exercise as an aid to smoking cessation in adults with elevated anxiety sensitivity: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Trials, November 2012

23148822

Jasper AJ Smits, Michael J Zvolensky, David Rosenfield, Bess H Marcus, Timothy S Church, Georita M Frierson, Mark B Powers, Michael W Otto, Michelle L Davis, Lindsey B DeBoer, Nicole F Briceno

Although cigarette smoking is a leading cause of death and disability in the United States (US), over 40 million adults in the US currently smoke. Quitting smoking is particularly difficult for smokers with certain types of psychological vulnerability. Researchers have frequently called attention to the relation between smoking and anxiety-related states and disorders, and evidence suggests that panic and related anxiety vulnerability factors, specifically anxiety sensitivity (AS or fear of somatic arousal), negatively impact cessation. Accordingly, there is merit to targeting AS among smokers to improve cessation outcome. Aerobic exercise has emerged as a promising aid for smoking cessation for this high-risk (for relapse) group because exercise can effectively reduce AS and other factors predicting smoking relapse (for example, withdrawal, depressed mood, anxiety), and it has shown initial efficacy for smoking cessation. The current manuscript presents the rationale, study design and procedures, and design considerations of the Smoking Termination Enhancement Project (STEP).