Maia Casna, Rachel Schats, Menno L.P. Hoogland, Sarah A. Schrader
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Objectives
To investigate the prevalence of respiratory disease in several populations from the Netherlands across different time periods and socioeconomic conditions.
Materials
We analyzed 695 adult individuals from six different Dutch contexts of urban and rural settlements dating to different time periods (i.e., early-medieval, late-medieval, post-medieval).
Methods
For each individual, the presence/absence of chronic maxillary sinusitis, otitis media, and inflammatory periosteal reaction on ribs was recorded macroscopically according to accepted methods.
Results
Statistically significant associations were found in the presence of sinusitis diachronically (early-medieval to late-medieval period, and early-medieval to post-medieval period) both in rural and urban environments. Differences in prevalence rates of otitis media were found statistically significant when comparing rural to urban environments in the early-medieval and late-medieval periods.
Conclusion
Our results suggest that factors such as increased contact between towns and countryside, higher population densities, and intensification of agricultural production impacted the respiratory health of past populations both in rural and urban settings.
Significance
Our study provides new insights into the impact of environmental changes and urbanization on respiratory disease prevalence, shedding light on the relationship between health and changing social and environmental contexts.
Limitations
Research limitations included the complex etiology of respiratory diseases, and the impact of uncontrollable factors such as hidden heterogeneity, selective mortality, and rural-to-urban migration.
Future research
Further research in different contexts is advised in order to continue exploring urbanization and its impact on human health across both time and space.
期刊介绍:
Paleopathology is the study and application of methods and techniques for investigating diseases and related conditions from skeletal and soft tissue remains. The International Journal of Paleopathology (IJPP) will publish original and significant articles on human and animal (including hominids) disease, based upon the study of physical remains, including osseous, dental, and preserved soft tissues at a range of methodological levels, from direct observation to molecular, chemical, histological and radiographic analysis. Discussion of ways in which these methods can be applied to the reconstruction of health, disease and life histories in the past is central to the discipline, so the journal would also encourage papers covering interpretive and theoretical issues, and those that place the study of disease at the centre of a bioarchaeological or biocultural approach. Papers dealing with historical evidence relating to disease in the past (rather than history of medicine) will also be published. The journal will also accept significant studies that applied previously developed techniques to new materials, setting the research in the context of current debates on past human and animal health.