Figures (4)  Tables (3)

    • Figure 1. 

      Study protocol. All participants underwent group cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for smoking cessation. At the beginning of the intervention, the participants were still smokers; they set an individual quitting date between the second and the third CBT session. The exercise sessions started in the same week as the CBT, approximately 2–3 weeks prior to the quitting date of the participants.

    • Figure 2. 

      Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) flowchart of study participants' inclusion, randomization, the intervention, and follow-up analyses. ITT, intention to treat; CC, complete cases.

    • Figure 3. 

      Number of completed sport sessions and attendance rates (as a percentage) in the CBT + exercise group. Error bars indicate standard errors of the mean (SE). ITT, intention to treat.

    • Figure 4. 

      Abstinence days for the three time points and the two groups in the ITT sample. Error bars represent 95% confidence intervals around the mean.

    • Characteristics Missing (N) Exercise with CBT group (N = 65)
      Mean (SD)      		 Missing (N) CBT-only group (N = 67)
      Mean (SD)      		 Statistic, p-value
      Sociodemographics
      Age 0 38.28 (10.67) 0 39.28 (12.57) t = 0.503, p = 0.621
      Gender (female %) 0 56.25% 0 62.69% χ² =1.476; p = 0.487
      Years of education* 0 7.15 (1.25) 0 7.22 (1.24) t = 0.310; p = 0.753
      Migration background (%) 1 32.81% 0 23.88% χ² = 1.291; p = 0.262
      Intelligence (WST) 0 28.36 (4.14) 0 29.81 (3.60) t = 2.149; p = 0.033*
      Nicotine information
      Cigarettes per day 0 14.15 (7.03) 0 14.57 (8.50) t = 0.301; p = 0.766
      Nicotine dependence (FTND) 0 3.86 (2.01) 0 3.93 (2.47) t = 0.177; p = 0.862
      Pack years 0 11.42 (10.62) 0 15.47 (15.98) t = 1.690; p = 0.095
      QSU 1 100.89 (30.28) 0 102.63 (32.17) t = 0.318; p = 0.751
      WSWS 1 35.18 (16.45) 0 36.075 (13.45) t = 0.339; p = 0.735
      Clinical characteristics
      AUDIT 0 7.06 (4.56) 0 5.49 (4.67) t = –1.947; p = 0.054
      ADS-K 0 8.77 (6.70) 0 7.612 (5.52) t = –1.078; p = 0.283
      STAI-T 10 39.86 (9.43) 5 38.86 (9.09) t = −0.584; p = 0.561
      ASI-3 10 20.67 (12.92) 6 16.56 (10.71) t = −1.865; p = 0.065
      Personality characteristics
      PSS 0 14.34 (6.27) 0 14.34 (5.83) t < 0.001; p = 1.0
      PANAS 0 30.28 (5.74)
      16.64 (6.39)      		 0 31.76 (5.93)
      15.40 (4.85)      		 t = 1.450; p = 0.150
      t = −1.253; p = 0.212
      Barratt impulsiveness scale 10 32.80 (5.70) 5 33.57 (6.61) t = 0.672; p = 0.503
      BIS 11 19.83 (3.84) 5 19.62 (3.73) t = −0.292; p = 0.771
      BAS 11 41.35 (4.77) 5 40.72 (5.32) t = −0.669; p = 0.505
      Other
      SIMPAQ (total activity)+ 0 5.48 (3.25) 0 5.99 (3.07) t = 0.913; p = 0.363
      IPAQ MET total (min/week) 2 3,620.532 (2,254.722) 7 3,329.950 (2,662.031) t = 0.654; p = 0.514
      Therapy expectancy/motivation 0 40.73 (5.79) 0 40.43 (7.16) t = −0.264; p = 0.792
      F-SozU 11 91.87 (14.97) 7 95.233 (13.79) t = 1.244; p = 0.216
      Note: * Years of education refers to years spent in secondary education. Eight years correspond to the German university entrance qualification (Abitur). +Average activity per day in hours (without sleeping and sitting) WST, Wortschatztest, vocabulary-based intelligence; FTND, Fagerstroem Test for Cigarette Dependence; QSU, Questionnaire on Smoking Urges; WSWS, Wisconsin Withdrawal Scale; AUDID, Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test; ADS-K, German version of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale; STAI-T, Spielberger Trait Anxiety Inventory; ASI-3, Anxiety Sensitivity Index-3; PSS, Perceived Stress Scale; PANAS, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule; BIS/BAS, Behavioral Inhibition System and Behavioral Approach System; SIMPAQ, Simple Physical Activity Questionnaire; IPAQ, International Physical Activity Questionnaire, short form; F-SozU, Fragebogen zur Sozialen Unterstützung.

      Table 1. 

      Baseline demographic and clinical characteristics of the sample (N = 132).

    • N Baseline
      mean (SD)      		 N 12 weeks
      mean (SD)      		 N 24 weeks
      mean (SD)      		 Effect of time Effect of group Interaction of
      time × group
      Smoking characteristics
      QSU- craving χ2(2) = 126.229
      p < 0.001      		 χ2(1) = 0.072
      p = 0.788      		 χ2(2) = 2.571
      p = 0.276
      CBT only 67 102.627 (32.167) 47 54.702 (20.201) 26 69.615 (35.669)
      CBT + exercise 64 100.891 (30.282) 43 62.977 (24.996) 22 65.409 (30.767)
      WSWS (withdrawal) χ2(2) = 7.404
      p = 0.025      		 χ2(1) = 0.209
      p =0.647      		 χ2(2) = 1.364
      p = 0.506
      CBT only 67 35.653 (13.449) 47 32.319 (15.743) 26 36.654 (8.588)
      CBT + exercise 64 35.100 (16.449) 43 33.558 (13.715) 22 38.273 (11.209)
      Clinical characteristics
      ADS-K–depressive symptoms χ2(2) = 17.198
      p < 0.001      		 χ2(1) = 0.401
      p = 0.526      		 χ2(2) = 0.736
      p = 0.692
      CBT only 67 7.612 (5.516) 47 9.298 (7.018) 27 11.704 (9.380)
      CBT + exercise 64 8.766 (6.699) 43 9.977 (5.970) 23 10.826 (5.606)
      Physical activity
      IPAQ-SF MET total (min/week) χ2(2) = 7.711
      p = 0.021      		 χ2(1) = 0.410
      p = 0.522      		 χ2(2) = 0.217
      p = 0.897
      CBT only 63 3,620.532 (2,254.722) 44 4,480.170 (2,731.361) 24 4,252.313 (2,652.092)
      CBT + exercise 60 3,329.950 (2,662.031) 43 4,451.279 (2,884.689) 19 3,833.763 (2,224.601)
      Note: Not all participants who completed the follow-up assessment interview finished the questionnaires at follow-up. QSU, Questionnaire on Smoking Urges; WSWS, Wisconsin Withdrawal Scale; ADS-K, German version of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale; IPAQ, International Physical Activity Questionnaire, short form.

      Table 2. 

      Secondary outcome variables across the three time points, separated for the two treatment groups.

    • Post-intervention Follow-up
      Abstinence days r = 0.620 (p = < 0.001) r = 0.528 (p = 0.001)
      ADS-K r = 0.024 (p = 0.882) r = –0.056 (p = 0.808)
      QSU r = –0.400 (p = 0.001) r = –0.079 (p = 0.739)
      WSWS r = –0.045 (p = 0.781) r = 0.294 (p = 0.208)
      IPAQ r = 0.113 (p = 0.494) r = –0.050 (p = 0.849)
      Note: The baseline values served as a covariate in the correlation analysis. QSU, Questionnaire on Smoking Urges; WSWS, Wisconsin Withdrawal Scale; ADS-K, German version of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale; IPAQ, International Physical Activity Questionnaire, short form.

      Table 3. 

      Pearson correlation analysis between number of completed sport sessions with abstinence days, depressive symptoms (ADS-K), craving (QSU), withdrawal (WSWS), and physical activity levels (IPAQ-SF) within the sports group using the CC sample only (n = 37).