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©The Author(s) 2026. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Psychiatry. Feb 19, 2026; 16(2): 112235
Published online Feb 19, 2026. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v16.i2.112235
Published online Feb 19, 2026. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v16.i2.112235
Differential impacts of job-related vs leisure-related physical activity on depressive and cognitive function among middle-aged and elderly adults
Qian-Ru Zhao, Bing Li, Xiang-Ya Zhao, Sheng-Nan Yang, Yi Yang, Ling Dong, Qian Wang, The Second Department of General Geriatrics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450052, Henan Province, China
Li Xie, School of Management, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450052, Henan Province, China
Author contributions: Zhao QR, Li B, Yang Y, and Wang Q were responsible for research design; Xie L, Li B, and Zhao XY were responsible for conducting experiments; Zhao QR, Zhao XY, and Yang Y were responsible for data acquisition; Xie L, Yang SN, and Dong L were responsible for data analysis; Yang SN, Dong L, and Wang Q were responsible for manuscript writing. All authors have contributed to the completion of this paper.
Institutional review board statement: The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University.
Informed consent statement: The informed consent was waived by the Institutional Review Board of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: The publicly available datasets used in this study can be found at http://charls.pku.edu.cn/en.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Qian Wang, PhD, The Second Department of General Geriatrics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, No. 1 Jianshe East Road, Erqi District, Zhengzhou 450052, Henan Province, China. qiansmile320@126.com
Received: July 22, 2025
Revised: August 11, 2025
Accepted: November 14, 2025
Published online: February 19, 2026
Processing time: 192 Days and 22.4 Hours
Revised: August 11, 2025
Accepted: November 14, 2025
Published online: February 19, 2026
Processing time: 192 Days and 22.4 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: This study investigates the differential impacts of job-related vs leisure-related physical activities (PA) on depressive symptoms and cognitive function among middle-aged and elderly adults in China, using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. Key findings indicate that vigorous-intensity PA for job demands exacerbates depressive symptoms and cognitive decline, while moderate-intensity PA for entertainment reduces depressive symptoms and supports cognitive health. These results highlight the importance of promoting leisure-based PA to enhance mental well-being and cognitive outcomes in aging populations, suggesting targeted interventions could be beneficial.