{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,20]],"date-time":"2026-07-20T23:31:18Z","timestamp":1784590278271,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":18,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,27]],"date-time":"2026-06-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1782518400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JFMK"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Physical activity (PA) is associated with cardiometabolic health and functional performance, yet sex-specific evidence from real-world primary care populations remains limited. Objective: This study evaluated whether associations between self-reported PA categories and LDL-C concentrations and Timed Up and Go (TUG) functional performance differed between males and females in a real-world primary care cohort. Methods: This cross-sectional observational study included 863 adult primary care patients (424 males, 439 females). PA was categorized as low, moderate, or high based on World Health Organization recommendations. LDL-C and TUG were assessed as primary outcomes. Sex-stratified analyses included one-way ANOVA with Bonferroni post hoc comparisons and multivariable linear regression adjusted for age, BMI, arterial hypertension (AH), and diabetes mellitus (DM). An interaction term (PA \u00d7 sex) was included to formally test for sex modification. Results: Males and females did not differ significantly in age, BMI, LDL-C, TUG, AH prevalence, DM prevalence, or PA distribution (all p &gt; 0.05). Higher PA categories were associated with lower LDL-C in both males (ANOVA F = 13.03, p &lt; 0.001) and females (ANOVA F = 14.92, p &lt; 0.001), and with better TUG performance in both males (F = 44.21, p &lt; 0.001) and females (F = 36.09, p &lt; 0.001). In multivariable regression, PA was the strongest independent predictor of both LDL-C (males: \u03b2 = \u22120.301, p &lt; 0.001; females: \u03b2 = \u22120.323, p &lt; 0.001) and TUG performance (males: \u03b2 = \u22121.235, p &lt; 0.001; females: \u03b2 = \u22121.170, p &lt; 0.001) in both sexes. The interaction term (PA \u00d7 sex) was not statistically significant for either LDL-C (p = 0.804) or TUG (p = 0.944), indicating no significant sex modification of the PA\u2013outcome associations. Conclusions: The associations between self-reported PA and both LDL-C concentrations and TUG functional performance were consistent across sexes in this real-world primary care cohort. These findings support the clinical relevance of routine PA assessment as a sex-independent indicator of cardiometabolic risk and functional health in primary care. Because of the cross-sectional design, causality cannot be established.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jfmk11030254","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,29]],"date-time":"2026-06-29T05:49:33Z","timestamp":1782712173000},"page":"254","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Sex-Specific Associations Between Physical Activity, LDL Cholesterol, and Functional Performance in a Real-World Primary Care Population: A Cross-Sectional Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6532-0935","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Peter Mari\u00e1n","family":"Kalanin","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of General Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Pavol Jozef \u0160af\u00e1rik University in Ko\u0161ice and MED-KAL, s.r.o., 040 01 Ko\u0161ice, Slovakia"},{"name":"Institute of Physical Education and Sport, Pavol Jozef \u0160af\u00e1rik University in Ko\u0161ice, 040 11 Ko\u0161ice, Slovakia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2643","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(17)31634-3","article-title":"The effect of physical activity on mortality and cardiovascular disease in 130,000 people from 17 countries","volume":"390","author":"Lear","year":"2017","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"l4570","DOI":"10.1136\/bmj.l4570","article-title":"Dose-response associations between accelerometry measured physical activity and sedentary time and all-cause mortality","volume":"366","author":"Ekelund","year":"2019","journal-title":"BMJ"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"67","DOI":"10.1007\/s40279-024-02115-z","article-title":"The effect of exercise training on blood lipids: A systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"55","author":"Smart","year":"2025","journal-title":"Sports Med."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2020","DOI":"10.1001\/jama.2018.14854","article-title":"The physical activity guidelines for Americans","volume":"320","author":"Piercy","year":"2018","journal-title":"JAMA"},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"316","DOI":"10.1016\/j.mayocp.2022.09.011","article-title":"Physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness as modulators of health outcomes","volume":"98","author":"Franklin","year":"2023","journal-title":"Mayo Clin. 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