title: Change in Body Weight Does Not Mediate the Relationship Between Exercise and Smoking Cessation Among Weight-Concerned Women Smokers.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Exercise has received attention as a method to prevent or reduce postcessation weight gain. However, little is known about how weight changes following quit attempts contribute to the relationship between exercise and smoking cessation. The present study assessed how exercise relates to cessation and whether initial changes in exercise after quitting smoking promote cessation through attenuated weight gain.
  
  
  METHODS
  Weight-concerned women smokers (N = 342) receiving cessation treatment provided biochemical validation of cessation, reported weekly exercise activities, and were weighed at 1, 3, and 6 months following treatment initiation. Survival analyses were used to determine time to and risk of relapse among women who reported engaging in varied levels of exercise at baseline. A mediation analysis was used to examine whether the effect of initial changes in exercise on longer-term cessation was driven by change in weight. All analyses were adjusted for relevant covariates.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Women smokers who reported high levels of exercise at baseline were less likely to relapse and returned to smoking more gradually than did women who reported low levels of exercise. Change in weight did not mediate the relationship between exercise and cessation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Cessation interventions utilizing an exercise component may have to develop exercise regimens of either higher duration or greater intensity to produce beneficial cessation outcomes, particularly when targeting sedentary smokers. Given that change in weight did not mediate the relationship between exercise and cessation, it is likely that other mediational processes are involved.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA; rle21@pitt.edu.
authors.forename: Rebecca L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Emery
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA;
authors.forename: Michele D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Levine
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA;
authors.forename: Marsha D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Marcus
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012008:Recurrence; D016540:Smoking Cessation; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000517:prevention & control*; D015430:Weight Gain; D055815:Young Adult