Limits

This study has some limitations. The study population was not equally represented between males and females, with a higher number of male specimens included in the dataset. This imbalance may influence the robustness of sex-specific analyses in several ways. First, the smaller female subsample reduces statistical power and increases the variability of regression estimates, potentially contributing to the wider confidence intervals observed in the female models. Second, unequal group sizes may amplify the influence of individual observations in the smaller group, making the regression results more sensitive to outliers or local distribution patterns. Consequently, the differences observed between male and female regression models should be interpreted cautiously and considered exploratory rather than definitive evidence of sex-related differences in rib aging patterns. In addition, the unequal distribution may partially affect the apparent role of the sclerosis parameter between sexes, since smaller samples can obscure or exaggerate structural relationships between variables. Future studies including larger and more balanced sex distributions will be necessary to determine whether the observed differences reflect true biological variation in skeletal remodeling or are partly attributable to sampling.