Assessing the influence of occupational and physical activity on the rate of degenerative change of the pubic symphysis in portuguese males from the 19th to 20th century

Abstract

Among the many factors suggested as potential sources of variation in the rate of ageing of the pubic symphysis is occupational/physical activity, but this has yet to be demonstrated. This study's main goal is to determine whether occupational/physical activity influences the aging process in the pubic symphysis. We analyzed a sample of 161 males (18-96 years) from two Portuguese identified skeletal collections, where age-related features were recorded in the pubic symphysis as absent/present. The sample was divided in two groups according to the occupation of the individuals (manual and non-manual) and in two groups according to the femoral robusticity index (robust and gracile). The manual and robust groups represent individuals with more physically demanding occupations while the non-manual and gracile groups represent less physically demanding occupations. The possible influence of occupational/physical activity on the rate of ageing was evaluated by comparing the transition age for each age-related feature, between the two groups, using logistic regression. Only the ligamentous outgrowths on the ventral beveling showed a statistically significant younger age in the robust group, indicating a possible faster rate or early timing of change in the individuals with a more physically demanding activity compared with their gracile counterparts. Thus, these results do not provide significant support to the hypothesis that individuals with a greater demanding occupation or physical activity show greater pubic symphysis degeneration. Further testing of this hypothesis in other samples with individuals from known occupation is required.

The effect of factors other than age upon skeletal age indicators in the adult

“…in diet, lifestyle and nutrition. This may be a reason why, in the few studies that have been done, links that have been hypothesized between age indicators and occupation have not been supported (Campanacho et al, 2012;Mays, 2012).…”

“…Some workers have attempted to assess the extent to which activity patterns, as measured by occupation, might be responsible for variation in age indicators. Campanacho et al (2012) investigated pubic symphysial morphology in males in a recent skeletal collection from Portugal, but failed to find an association with physically demanding occupations. A similar study was done on acetabular age changes (some of which at least might be considered aspects of articular degeneration).…”

Comparison of the Entheseal Changes of theos coxaeof Portuguese Males (19th–20thcenturies) with Known Occupation

“…Recorded occupation represents the last occupation and not the overall physical demands throughout life (Campanacho et al , ). The biographic data for both collections offers the occupation of the individuals at death.…”

“…Categorization of occupations is difficult, and as was recently demonstrated by Alves Cardoso & Henderson (in press), the results of a study can be influenced by the categories used to group the individuals. Another aspect can be associated with the fact that individuals placed in the non‐manual and gracile groups may also have had demanding occupations and physical activities not recorded in the collections' files (Alves Cardoso & Henderson, ; Campanacho et al , ). It is unknown if the individuals performed others activities outside their main work (Alves Cardoso & Henderson, ), and hierarchy within the same occupation may have existed since individuals can perform different tasks that involve different workload (Alves Cardoso & Henderson, ).…”

“…The assumption was made that the manual group and robust individuals all had physically demanding occupations/activities, as opposed to the non‐manual group and gracile individuals for whom the assumption was that the activities and occupations were less intense (Campanacho et al , ). In the present study, a distinction was made between the terms occupation and physical activity.…”