Sex-differences in relation to the association between patterns of physical activity and sedentary behavior with frailty

Abstract Objective To investigate the sex-difference in relation to the association between moderate-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary time (ST) patterns with frailty. Method Accelerometry from ≥50 year olds from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2003-04/2005-06 cycles) were included. Bouted and sporadic MVPA were defined as MVPA in ≥10 min or Results There were 1143 females and 1174 males available for analysis. Bouted MVPA was associated with lower frailty levels; the association peaked at meeting 50–99 % of the guidelines in females and ≥1.0 % in males (p = NS for sex-interaction). Meeting a higher proportion of the guidelines through sporadic MVPA was significantly associated with a lower FI in males only (p = NS for sex-interaction). Prolonged ST bouts were associated with worse frailty in females but not males (p  Conclusion Prolonged ST was more detrimentally associated with frailty in females than males, which could influence tailored movement prescriptions and guidelines.