Patterns of osteoarthritis in an early agricultural society: Relationship with growth and stature

Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most common pathological conditions seen in archaeological skeletal collections. The goal of this study is to identify the patterns of osteoarthritis in the peripheral joints of a skeletal sample from the Norris Farms 36 archaeological collection in the Central Illinois River valley. To date this disease is under examined in this subsistence group. This study utilized a sample of 78 individuals, 47 females and 31 males, with estimated ages greater than 20 years old. The population associated with the cemetery is known to be transitional between hunting-gathering and agriculture, therefore it is important to identify the frequency and severity of this disease in order to raise the understanding of underlying etiologies. This study investigated the relationship between age, sex, and stature with severity of osteoarthritis in 12 synovial joints. As expected, results indicate that severity of osteoarthritis increases in a linear fashion with age. Unlike other past populations, males and females do not differ significantly in the severity of osteoarthritis. Additionally, the sample revealed a slight association between the tallest females and severe arthritis, which could potentially be linked to a genetic factor, Growth and Differentiation Factor 5 (GDF5). Finally, there is no association between tibia length (knee height) and the severity of knee arthritis for males or females in the sample. Better knowledge of the association between growth/stature and joint disease needs to be established in past peoples to gain perspective on contemporary cases.