## 3 Results  
Table 1 shows the results of logistic regression for outcomes analyzed, with sex and age serving as predictor variables (factors). Age was a significant factor affecting the prevalence of medial meniscal damage, with each additional year increasing the odds by 4%. In contrast, it had no effect on predicting lateral meniscal damage. However, age emerged as a significant predictor influencing the likelihood of having chondropathy of the knee. The magnitude of its effect was comparable to that seen in medial meniscal damage. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c} \hline \hline  & **Age** & \\ \hline
**Variable** & **O.R.** & \(p\) **Value** \\ \hline MMD & 1.04 (1.01–1.07) & **<0.001 *** \\ LMD & 0.99 (0.92–1.09) & 0.436 \\ KAC & 1.03 (1.00–1.05) & **0.002 *** \\ \hline \hline  & **Sex** & \\ \hline
**Variable** & **O.R.** & \(p\) **Value** \\ \hline MMD & 1.01 (0.67–1.51) & 0.979 \\ LMD & 0.54 (0.31–0.96) & **0.035 *** \\ KAC & 1.71 (0.96–3.04) & 0.065 \\ \hline \hline  & **Age \(\times\) Sex Interaction** & \\ \hline
**Variable** & **O.R.** & \(p\) **Value** \\ \hline MMD & 1.01 (0.79–1.04) & 0.646 \\ LMD & 0.99 (0.95–1.03) & 0.614 \\ KAC & 1.01 (0.96–1.05) & 0.673 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Regression results for age, sex, and age–sex interaction on outcome variables. Sex did not influence the prevalence of medial meniscal damage. However, it had a significant effect on the probability of having lateral meniscal damage, with women showing a 46% reduction in odds compared with men. However, women exhibited a borderline trend for higher odds of having knee chondropathy associated with meniscus rupture. The age \(\times\) sex interaction was not significant irrespective of outcome, supporting that the relationship between age and different outcomes is consistent across the sexes. The age range, number of individuals, and sex distribution corresponding to each age quartile are shown in Table 2. Sex distribution was similar among different age quartiles (Chi-square test, \(p\) = 0.293). The distribution of patients with and without injuries of the knee joint across age quartiles is presented in Table 3. We found significant inter-strata differences in the prevalence of medial meniscal damage and knee chondropathy. In contrast, no differences were observed for lateral meniscus. Among the analyzed outcomes, only the prevalence of medial meniscal damage showed a clear age-dependent increase. The measured values in the second, third, and fourth quartiles were significantly above those seen in the first quartile. Aside from age being a non-significant predictor for lateral meniscal rupture (see Table 1), the prevalence of this pathology showed very small variations across the different age quartiles. However, the frequency of knee chondropathy tended to increase with age. It showed a sharp increase in the second age quartile, followed by a much slower rise after this quartile. The \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline \hline  & **Age Range (Years)** &
\begin{tabular}{c} **Individuals** \\ **(Number)** \\ \end{tabular} & **Male** & **Female** \\ \hline Q1 (0–25\%) & 1–22 & 129 & 88 (68.22) & 41 (31.78) \\ Q2 (26–50\%) & 23–32 & 127 & 93 (73.23) & 34 (26.77) \\ Q3 (51–75\%) & 33–42 & 115 & 72 (62.61) & 43 (37.79) \\ Q4 (76–100\%) & 43–75 & 117 & 84 (71.79) & 33 (28.21) \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} Data in the fourth and fifth columns are given as absolute values with the corresponding percentages (in parentheses).  
\end{table} 
Table 2: Age quartile distribution by sex and total individuals.