Objective Health effects of different physical activity domains (ie, during leisure time, work and transport) are generally considered positive. Using Active Worker consortium data, we assessed independent associations of occupational and leisure-time physical activity (OPA and LTPA) with all-cause mortality.

Design Two-stage individual participant data meta-analysis.

Data source Published and unpublished cohort study data.

Eligibility criteria Working participants aged 18–65 years.

Methods After data harmonisation, we assessed associations of OPA and LTPA with all-cause mortality. In stage 1, we analysed data from each study separately using Cox survival regression, and in stage 2, we pooled individual study findings with random-effects modelling.

Results In 22 studies with up to 590 497 participants from 11 countries, during a mean follow-up of 23.1 (SD: 6.8) years, 99 743 (16%) participants died. Adjusted for LTPA, body mass index, age, smoking and education level, summary (ie, stage 2) hazard ration (HRs) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) for low, moderate and high OPA among men (n=2 96 134) were 1.01 (0.99 to 1.03), 1.05 (1.01 to 1.10) and 1.12 (1.03 to 1.23), respectively. For women (n=2 94 364), HRs (95% CI) were 0.98 (0.92 to 1.04), 0.96 (0.92 to 1.00) and 0.97 (0.86 to 1.10), respectively. In contrast, higher levels of LTPA were inversely associated with mortality for both genders. For example, for women HR for low, moderate and high compared with sedentary LTPA were 0.85 (0.81 to 0.89), 0.78 (0.74 to 0.81) and 0.75 (0.65 to 0.88), respectively. Effects were attenuated when adjusting for income (although data on income were available from only 9 and 6 studies, for men and women, respectively).

Conclusion Our findings indicate that OPA may not result in the same beneficial health effects as LTPA.