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Endemic disease patterns in Paleopathology: Porotic hyperostosis
Author(s) -
Palkovich Ann M.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.1330740411
Subject(s) - paleopathology , anemia , disease , medicine , physiology , weaning , lesion , iron deficiency , dietary iron , pathology
Recent research has shown that constitutional factors can elicit a porotic skeletal lesion pattern related to iron‐deficiency anemia, even when adequate dietary iron is available. This study considers the pattern of skeletal involvement under conditions of chronic or endemic dietary stress. Analysis focused on 54 subadults aged 0–10 years at death from the Arroyo Hondo site. Early age of onset is documented in the pattern of coincident active periosteal reactions and porotic lesions under 6 months. Endemically inadequate diets affecting pregnant females and their fetuses, acting synergistically with immediately acquired infections, not weaning diets, are the probable major underlying causes for the early onset of iron‐deficiency anemia at Arroyo Hondo.