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Association between physical activity and mortality has rarely been investigated among the Chinese population. Furthermore, the most appropriate amount of physical activity for longevity benefits remains unclear. We used data from the Dongfeng-Tongji cohort, including 24,606 middle-aged and older retired adults in 2008 and followed to 2013, to quantify linear and non-linear dose-response relationships between regular physical activity and mortality risks by Cox proportional hazards model. Compared with participants who did not engage in regular physical activity, those performing regular physical activity had significantly 46%, 56%, and 49% decreased risks of mortality from all causes, circulatory, and respiratory diseases, respectively. Each one-SD increase in regular physical activity was associated with 32% decrease of respiratory disease mortality. There were significant nonlinear dose-response associations between regular physical activity and mortality from all causes and circulatory diseases. Mortality risks decreased monotonically with increased regular physical activity amount, and appeared to reach a threshold at around 100 MET-hours/week. More mortality benefits were found among non-smokers than that among current and former smokers. Our results suggest that middle-aged and older Chinese adults can achieve mortality benefits from regular physical activity at the WHO recommended minimum, and the benefit threshold appears at approximately 100 MET hours/week.

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