Who is more likely to quit smoking?

Physically Active Smokers More Likely to Kick the Habit

April 1, 2008

Physically active smokers might have greater success quitting smoking than those who are more sedentary, according to a new study from the University of Toronto in Canada.

The study, which appears in the May issue of American Journal of Public Health, looked at the demographics of nearly 23,000 Canadian smokers. Physically active men were 36 percent more likely to have tried to quit smoking within the past year and women were 37 percent more likely to do so than their less-active peers were.

“Previous studies have suggested that participating in one healthy behavior, such as physical activity, may lead to the adoption or maintenance of another positive behavior, such as smoking cessation,” said lead author Wayne deRuiter.

About one-quarter of the daily smokers studied were physically active. On average, these smokers were six years younger than sedentary smokers were. Physically active smokers, who were more likely to be male and single, began smoking at a younger age, smoked fewer cigarettes per day and tried to quit smoking more often than their inactive counterparts did.

While the findings are encouraging, it is possible that some smokers will use physical activity as an excuse to continue smoking, according to Jennifer McClure, Ph.D., an associate investigator at the Center for Health Studies for the Group Health Cooperative in Seattle. She was not involved with the study.

“There’s some caution to be used here because we don’t know how well [increasing physical activity to stop smoking] would work. By telling people you can use physical activity as a harm- reduction means, this could delay or deter their efforts to quit smoking,” McClure said. “This would not be the message we would want to convey.”

“I’ve had the opportunity to speak with smokers who told me they are ‘living proof’ that physical activity does assist in smoking cessation,” deRuiter said. “These individuals were, at one time, hardcore smokers who began walking several times throughout the day. As physical activity levels increased, they found they were smoking less until they eventually quit smoking altogether.” However, he added, “I think that these individuals represent a minority.”

Should sedentary smokers be encouraged to get moving as a first step toward quitting?

The researchers were not able to determine if it is possible to induce smokers who are not already physically active to adopt the lifestyle, particularly in an unsupervised environment.

McClure agreed. “If we’re going to look at physical activity as a means for promoting smoking cessation or reduction, the open question really is — for that larger group that is physically inactive — can we motivate them to initiate that behavioral change?”

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FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Health Behavior News Service: Lisa Esposito at (202) 387-2829 or hbns-editor@cfah.org.

The American Journal of Public Health is the monthly journal of the American Public Health Association. Visit www.apha.org  for more information. Complimentary online access to the journal is available to credentialed members of the media. Contact Bithiah Lafontant at APHA, (202) 777-2509 or bithiah.lafontant@apha.org

deRuiter WK, et al. Characteristics of physically active smokers and implications for harm reduction. Am J Public Health 98(5), 2008.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Health Behavior News Service: (202) 387-2829 or www.hbns.org.

Center for the Advancement of Health
Health Behavior News Service
Contact: Lisa Esposito, Editor
202.387.2829
hbns-editor@cfah.org

Better-Educated Smokers More Likely to Try Quitting in Response to Ads

April 1, 2008

Better-educated smokers are more likely to respond to TV ads that promote quitting smoking, while the effect of secondhand smoke messages is similar across educational levels, according to a new Wisconsin study.

University of Wisconsin researchers surveyed 452 adult smokers of different socioeconomic and educational levels about their recall of “keep trying to quit” and secondhand smoke ad campaigns. The initial surveys took place in 2002 and 2003. A year later, these smokers responded to questions on quit attempts and abstinence.

Of those who recalled seeing the ads, about 65 percent of college-educated respondents tried to quit in the following year, compared with 30 percent of those with high-school or less education, according to the researchers’ analysis that controlled for other factors like age and ethnicity.

However, for the keep-trying-to-quit ads, there was not a statistically significant difference between the groups in promoting abstinence from smoking after one year and there was no difference in response to messages on secondhand smoke.

Lead researcher Jeff Niederdeppe, Ph.D., a post-doctoral fellow, said that about 7 percent of those with graduate degrees smoke in this country, while 46 percent of those with a GED light up.

The researchers concluded, “Some media campaign messages appear less effective in promoting quit attempts among less-educated populations.”

The study appears in the May issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

Niederdeppe said that income could also be a significant factor. “Lower socioeconomic-status smokers may be more addicted and work in places where smoking is less restricted. They also have less access to abstinence aids such as medications and counseling.” Seeing an ad might not be a sufficient or effective motivator by itself.

“We are not doing a good enough job of providing lower socioeconomic smokers with resources to help them quit,” he said.

Lirio Covey, Ph.D., is the director of the psychiatry department at Columbia University Medical Center and of the Smoking Cessation Program at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. She says the study “signals the need to devote more public health attention and resources to understanding the continuing allure of smoking for persons of lower SES and the barriers to their efforts not only to begin to make attempts to stop smoking, but also to succeed when they embark on those attempts."

She concludes, ‘Public health messages have apparently resonated with more socioeconomically advantaged smokers but have failed to move the dial for disadvantaged smokers.”

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FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Health Behavior News Service: Lisa Esposito at (202) 387-2829 or hbns-editor@cfah.org.

The American Journal of Public Health is the monthly journal of the American Public Health Association. Visit www.apha.org  for more information. Complimentary online access to the journal is available to credentialed members of the media. Contact Bithiah Lafontant at APHA, (202) 777-2509 or bithiah.lafontant@apha.org

Niederdeppe J, et al. Smoking cessation medical campaigns and their effectiveness among socioeconomically advantaged and disadvantaged populations. Am J Public Health 98(5), 2008.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Health Behavior News Service: (202) 387-2829 or www.hbns.org.

Center for the Advancement of Health
Health Behavior News Service
Contact: Lisa Esposito, Editor
202.387.2829
hbns-editor@cfah.org

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