The association between recreational physical activity and survival from breast cancer was investigated in a population-based cohort of breast cancer patients in Adelaide, South Australia. These patients, aged 20-74 years at diagnosis, had been recruited between 1982 and 1984 into a case-control study of diet, hormones and breast cancer. Of the 451 patients with breast cancer originally enrolled, 412 were followed for a median interval of 5.5 years. The study participants reported their weekly levels of light, moderate and vigorous recreational physical activity, which were then converted into estimates of kilocalories per week of energy expenditure. Despite some fluctuation in the hazard ratios by level of physical activity, there was little evidence for an association between total recreational physical activity and risk of death from breast cancer overall, or within menopausal strata. Similarly, there was little evidence for associations between individual types of recreational physical activity and risk of death from breast cancer.