Cribra orbitalia and porotic hyperostosis are associated with respiratory infections in a contemporary mortality sample from New Mexico

Abstract

Objectives: Cribra orbitalia (CO) and porotic hyperostosis (PH) are porous cranial lesions (PCLs) classically associated with iron-deficiency anemia in bioarchaeological contexts. However, recent studies indicate a need to reassess the interpretation of PCLs. This study addresses the potential health correlates of PCLs in a contemporary sample by examining relationships between the known cause of death (COD) and PCL presence/absence. Methods: This study includes a sample of 461 juvenile individuals (6 months to 15 years of age) who underwent examination at the University of New Mexico's Office of the Medical Investigator between 2011 and 2019. The information available for each individual includes their sex, age at death, and their COD and manner of death. Results: Odds ratio of having CO (OR = 3.92, p < .01) or PH (OR = 2.86, p = .02) lesions are increased in individuals with respiratory infections. Individuals with heart conditions have increased odds of having CO (OR = 3.52, p = .03) lesions, but not PH. Conclusion: Individuals with respiratory infection are more likely to have CO and/or PH. CO appears to have a greater range of health correlates than PH does, as indicated by the heart condition results. However, individuals with congenital heart defects are at higher risk for respiratory infections, so bony alterations in cases of heart conditions may be due to respiratory illness. Since respiratory infection remains a leading cause of mortality today, CO and PH in bioarchaeological contexts should be considered as potential indicators of respiratory infections in the past.

The elusive parasite: comparing macroscopic, immunological, and genomic approaches to identifying malaria in human skeletal remains from Sayala, Egypt (third to sixth centuries AD)

“…The different underlying causes of these lesions include iron-deficiency anaemia or megaloblastic and haemolytic anaemia or other physiological stresses causing porosity and cortical thinning, such as nutritional deficiencies like scurvy or rickets or localised infection (see i.e. Ortner 2003 and Aufderheide and Rodríguez-Martín 1998 and most recently, O’Donnell et al 2020 associate CO and PH with respiratory infections). While Strouhal did not include PH explicitly in his analysis, he presents the prevalence of CO across the population he observed (Strouhal unpublished : section 11.5).…”

Using a multimethod life history approach to navigate the osteological paradox: A case study from Prehispanic Nasca, Peru

“…The region's high‐elevation location, extreme aridity, unsanitary living conditions, pronounced drought, and chronic warfare suggest that dietary malnutrition and/or parasite induced malabsorption played causal roles in producing the observed lesions. Burning of biofuel indoors for cooking and heat, together with the physical proximity of residences, also make respiratory conditions a likely contributor to morbidity (O'Donnell et al, 2020).…”

“…Burning of biofuel indoors for cooking and heat, together with the physical proximity of residences, also make respiratory conditions a likely contributor to morbidity (O'Donnell et al, 2020).…”

Increased dental fluctuating asymmetry is associated with active skeletal lesions, but not mortality hazards in the precontact Southwest United States

“…These are porous cranial lesions found in the eye orbits and on the cranial vault, respectively (Brickley, 2018). CO and PH are nonspecific stress indicators, with many potential causes (Brickley, 2018; Kent, 1986; O'Donnell, 2019a; O'Donnell, Hill, et al, 2020; Ortner, 2003, p. 200). Recent studies indicate that CO and PH have different etiologies despite their common conflation (Brickley, 2018; O'Donnell, 2019a; O'Donnell, Hill, et al, 2020; Rivera & Mirazón Lahr, 2017).…”