Objectives: Cribra orbitalia (CO) and porotic hyperostosis (PH) are porous cranial lesions (PCLs) classically associated with iron-deficiency anemia in bioarchaeological contexts. However, recent studies indicate a need to reassess the interpretation of PCLs. This study addresses the potential health correlates of PCLs in a contemporary sample by examining relationships between the known cause of death (COD) and PCL presence/absence.
Methods: This study includes a sample of 461 juvenile individuals (6 months to 15 years of age) who underwent examination at the University of New Mexico's Office of the Medical Investigator between 2011 and 2019. The information available for each individual includes their sex, age at death, and their COD and manner of death.
Results: Odds ratio of having CO (OR = 3.92, p < .01) or PH (OR = 2.86, p = .02) lesions are increased in individuals with respiratory infections. Individuals with heart conditions have increased odds of having CO (OR = 3.52, p = .03) lesions, but not PH.
Conclusion: Individuals with respiratory infection are more likely to have CO and/or PH. CO appears to have a greater range of health correlates than PH does, as indicated by the heart condition results. However, individuals with congenital heart defects are at higher risk for respiratory infections, so bony alterations in cases of heart conditions may be due to respiratory illness. Since respiratory infection remains a leading cause of mortality today, CO and PH in bioarchaeological contexts should be considered as potential indicators of respiratory infections in the past.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24131 | DOI Listing |
Am J Biol Anthropol
January 2025
College of Population Health, University of New Mexico, Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.
Objectives: Skeletal indicators of developmental stress are commonly used to assess health, disease, and patterns of morbidity and mortality in past populations. Incorporating information about individual life history, such as adverse life events, allows for a more thorough understanding of their etiology. This paper adopts the double lens of ontogeny and the life course to analyze indicators of developmental stress in relation to known individual pathologies and developmental patterns of the cranium, vertebrae, and long bones.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIran J Public Health
June 2024
Department of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Background: The intriguing area of paleopathology merges the disciplines of archeology and biological studies. Using this line of research, it is possible to identify diseases that have left skeletal traces in the past. In addition, diseases such as various anemia that occur in childhood, when bone tissue is soft and retains evidence, can be identified in ancient bones.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Hum Biol
January 2025
College of Population Health, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.
Int J Paleopathol
September 2024
Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria, Private Bag x323, Gezina, Pretoria 0031, South Africa. Electronic address:
Objectives: Biological anthropologists frequently explore skeletal asymmetry, together with population health and disease. Given the conflicting findings in existing literature, this study aimed to clarify whether an association exists in a South African sample.
Materials: Dry bone and cranial micro-focus X-ray Computed Tomography (micro-XCT) scans of 115 South African individuals were assessed.
Microsc Res Tech
December 2024
Center of Bone Biology, Institute of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
Skeletal porous lesions such as cribra orbitalia (CO) have long been of interest to bioanthropologists worldwide, mainly due to their high prevalence in osteological material. Previous studies considered CO as an external morphological manifestation, and therefore, research has mainly focused on visible (macroscopic) CO patterns. However, the understanding of CO-induced micro-scale bone changes is still scarce.
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