Abstract
The skeletal record reveals little information regarding the
actual age at which particular conditions arise within a
population. Epidemiological analyses have attempted to illuminate
the effects of skeletal age on the prevalence of health disparities
within skeletal samples. Paleodemography maintains a fundamental
focus on age distributions in mortality profiles and understands
the role of age as a confounding variable in paleoepidemiological
analyses. This relationship is evaluated by comparing mortality
profiles to the distribution of pathologies, trauma, and stress
indicators in skeletal samples. This approach however, neglects the
potential for an increase in the exposure to various health risks
over time. As a proposed remedy, this study evaluates the potential
for employing the person years construct (Glencross and Sawchuk
2003) as a more accurate way of gauging age-adjusted prevalence of
indicators of overall health, specifically skeletal stress
indicators, within skeletal samples. This method measures the
length of exposure for each individual as well as the mortality
profile of a given sample, while also attending to the potentially
confounding effect of these two factors on the prevalence of
pathologies and stress indicators. To evaluate the utility of this
alternative approach, the frequency of cribra orbitalia and
trauma/fractures in relation to skeletal age for several
well-studied skeletal samples from Sudanese Nubia (350BC-1500+AD)
was determined using three different calculations: prevalence,
age-adjusted prevalence, and person-years adjusted prevalence.
Throughout the study a notion of cumulative person years was
devised and calculated for the two conditions as well. Results show
a potential for gauging when particular conditions most affect a
population. Further studies may have implications for improving the
accuracy of interpretations of age-related patterns in overall
health, trauma, and evidence of disease in skeletal samples.
Table of Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction...1
Background...2
Materials...12
Methods...12
Results...14
Discussion...15
Conclusion...21
Bibliography...23
Appendices...A1
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