Epidemiological Approaches in Palaeopathology

Abstract

A major historical limitation in the field of palaeopathology has been its overemphasis on case studies of specific or non-specific conditions. This approach cannot provide epidemiological information about the prevalence of disease in relation to age, sex and other factors. Consequently, it is often difficult, if not impossible, to derive palaeoepidemiological information from the literature about a given disease that can be compared with data on both past and current medical epidemiological studies. This chapter provides a critical overview of palaeoepidemiology. Following the Introduction, the main current research directions that involve the study of epidemiological aspects of past populations are outlined. The subsequent section then discusses the main epidemiological concepts that are of relevance to palaeopathologists and looks at some of the limitations that are associated with the application of these methods to palaeopathological investigations. The following section then focuses on methods for the calculation of prevalence rates in archaeological samples stratified by age and sex. The methodology incorporates the analysis of missing cases and the ways in which missing data affect the prevalence rates obtained. There then follows a section that focuses on the comparison of prevalence rates between populations by means of methods, such as the case-control study. The chapter ends with a discussion of possible future directions.

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