Abstract
BackgroundGender-specific smoking cessation strategies have rarely been developed. Evidence of effectiveness of physical activity (PA) promotion and intervention in adjunct to smoking cessation programs is not strong. SPRINT study is a randomized controlled trial (RCT) designed to evaluate a counselling intervention on smoking cessation and PA delivered to women attending the Italian National Health System Cervical Cancer Screening Program. This paper presents study design and baseline characteristics of the study population.Methods/DesignAmong women undergoing the Pap examination in three study centres (Florence, Turin, Mantua), participants were randomized to the smoking cessation counselling [S], the smoking cessation + PA counselling [S + PA], or the control [C] groups. The program under evaluation is a standard brief counselling on smoking cessation combined with a brief counselling on increasing PA, and was delivered in 2010. A questionnaire, administered before, after 6 months and 1 year from the intervention, was used to track behavioural changes in tobacco use and PA, and to record cessation rates in participants.DiscussionOut of the 5,657 women undergoing the Pap examination, 1,100 participants (55% of smokers) were randomized in 1 of the 3 study groups (363 in the S, 366 in the S + PA and 371 in the C groups). The three arms did not differ on any demographic, PA, or tobacco-use characteristics. Recruited smokers were older, less educated than non-participant women, more motivated to quit (33% vs.9% in the Preparation stage, p < 0.001), smoked more cigarettes per day (12 vs.9, p < 0.001), and were more likely to have already done 1 or more quit attempts (64% vs.50%, p < 0.001). The approach of SPRINT study appeared suitable to enrol less educated women who usually smoke more and have more difficulties to quit.Trial registration numberISRCTN: ISRCTN52660565
Highlights
Gender-specific smoking cessation strategies have rarely been developed
The SPRINT Study was designed in order to verify the effectiveness of a standard counselling intervention on smoking cessation delivered by trained midwives in a gender-specific setting, and whether the adjunct of physical activity (PA) counselling to the standard smoking cessation counselling might increase quit rates among women undergoing the NHS-CCSP
This paper describes the characteristics of the female smokers enrolled in the study in comparison to those registered in non-participant female smokers
Summary
It mobilizes resources from 3 regional centres in Italy, and involved 1,100 women. Eighty-one percent of smokers in the preparation stage for smoking cessation, 64% in the contemplation stage, and only 38% in the pre-contemplation stage participated voluntarily to the study This distribution by motivation level among participants could determine an unexpectedly high cessation rate in the control group. Through the study approach it was possible to enrol less educated women who usually smoke more and have more difficulties to quit
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