{"title":"Compounding vulnerabilities: Syndemics and the social determinants of disease in the past","authors":"Megan A. Perry , Rebecca L. Gowland","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpp.2022.09.002","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objective</h3><p>This article explores the theory and utility of a syndemic approach for the study of disease in the past. Syndemic principles are examined alongside other theoretical developments within bioarchaeology. Two case studies are provided to illustrate the efficacy of this approach: Tuberculosis and vitamin D deficiency in 18th and 19th century England, and malaria and helminth infections in Early Medieval England.</p></div><div><h3>Materials</h3><p>Public health studies of present syndemics, in addition to published bioarchaeological, clinical and social information relating to the chosen case studies.</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>The data from these two historical examples are revisited within a syndemic framework to draw deeper conclusions about disease clustering and heterogeneity in the past.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>A syndemic framework can be applied to past contexts using clinical studies of diseases in a modern context and relevant paleopathological, archaeological, and historical data.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>This approach provides a means for providing a deeper, contextualised understanding ancient diseases, and integrates well with extant theoretical tools in bioarchaeology</p></div><div><h3>Significance</h3><p>Syndemics provides scholars a deep-time perspective on diseases that still impact modern populations.</p></div><div><h3>Limitations</h3><p>Many of the variables essential for a truly syndemic approach cannot be obtained from current archaeological, bioarchaeological, or historical methods.</p></div><div><h3>Suggestions for further research</h3><p>More detailed and in-depth analysis of specific disease clusters within the past and the present, which draws on a comprehensive analysis of the social determinants of health.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48817,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Paleopathology","volume":"39 ","pages":"Pages 35-49"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3000,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"4","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Journal of Paleopathology","FirstCategoryId":"89","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1879981722000511","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"PALEONTOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 4
Abstract
Objective
This article explores the theory and utility of a syndemic approach for the study of disease in the past. Syndemic principles are examined alongside other theoretical developments within bioarchaeology. Two case studies are provided to illustrate the efficacy of this approach: Tuberculosis and vitamin D deficiency in 18th and 19th century England, and malaria and helminth infections in Early Medieval England.
Materials
Public health studies of present syndemics, in addition to published bioarchaeological, clinical and social information relating to the chosen case studies.
Methods
The data from these two historical examples are revisited within a syndemic framework to draw deeper conclusions about disease clustering and heterogeneity in the past.
Results
A syndemic framework can be applied to past contexts using clinical studies of diseases in a modern context and relevant paleopathological, archaeological, and historical data.
Conclusions
This approach provides a means for providing a deeper, contextualised understanding ancient diseases, and integrates well with extant theoretical tools in bioarchaeology
Significance
Syndemics provides scholars a deep-time perspective on diseases that still impact modern populations.
Limitations
Many of the variables essential for a truly syndemic approach cannot be obtained from current archaeological, bioarchaeological, or historical methods.
Suggestions for further research
More detailed and in-depth analysis of specific disease clusters within the past and the present, which draws on a comprehensive analysis of the social determinants of health.
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.