Tobacco Dependence, Cigarette Craving, Smoking Behavior
Conditions
Keywords
psychiatric, comorbidity, craving, tobacco
Brief summary
People with schizophrenia have two- to three-times the mortality risk of the general population. This is primarily due to their unusually high rates of cigarette smoking, as well as other cardiovascular risk factors such as physical inactivity, obesity, high blood cholesterol and diabetes. Effective smoking treatments are needed to reduce morbidity and mortality in this population. Over a dozen experimental studies indicate that walking and other forms of exercise acutely reduce cigarette craving, nicotine withdrawal symptoms and smoking behavior in non-psychiatric smokers. However, the effects of acute exercise on smoking measures have not been studied in smokers with schizophrenia. This study will use a within-subjects, repeated-measures design, in which participants will undergo 4 laboratory sessions (order counterbalanced across participants): (1) smoking cues followed by exercise, (2) smoking cues followed by passive activity, (3) neutral cues followed by exercise, (4) neutral cues followed by passive activity. Outcome measures include cigarette craving, nicotine withdrawal symptoms, mood and smoking behavior. If the results of this study indicate that walking acutely reduces craving and smoking in smokers with schizophrenia, the next step in this research would be to test the effectiveness of a smoking cessation intervention that incorporates exercise bouts as a behavioral strategy for improving smoking cessation rates in this population.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALExercise
1-mile treadmill walk
BEHAVIORALpassive control
20 min inactivity
Sponsors
Brown University
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
CROSSOVER
Primary purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
SINGLE (Subject)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 60 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* diagnosis of schizophrenia * smoke at least 20 cigarettes per day * less than 60 min moderate-intensity exercise per week
Exclusion criteria
* medication changes in past 4 weeks * unable to give informed consent to participate * alcohol/drug screen * pregnant or nursing * receiving or seeking immediate smoking treatment
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Cigarette craving | within 10 minutes before and after exercise (or control activity) | Questionnaire on Smoking Urges - Brief form |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Mood | within 10 minutes before and after exercise (or control activity) | Positive and Negative Affect Scales, which are brief questionnaire measures of positive and negative mood. |
| Smoking habit withdrawal | within 10 minutes before and after exercise (or control activity) | Questionnaire measures of withdrawal from sensorimotor aspects of smoking |
| Smoking choice | initiated 10 minutes after exercise (or control activity) | 2-hr laboratory smoking choice assessment in which participants make a series of choices between smoking versus receiving a small amount of cash. |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed