Hip and knee osteoarthritis in an eighteenth century urban population

✍ Scribed by S. Baetsen; P. Bitter; Tj. D. Bruintjes

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 80 KB
• Volume: 7
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1047-482X
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1212(199711/12)7:6<628::aid-oa391>3.0.co;2-r

✦ Synopsis

A recent study of skeletons from Saxon and Medieval England has shown that in the past tibiofemoral osteoarthritis was far less prevalent than hip osteoarthritis, whereas at present this situation is reversed. This observation suggests that tibiofemoral osteoarthritis may be a `new' disease. Obesity, which is to some extent linked to a modern life style, is thought to be a potential causative factor in this respect.

A random sample of 250 skeletons buried between 1750 and 1830 in the Church of St Lawrence, Alkmaar (The Netherlands) offered the possibility to study the prevalence of osteoarthritis in the knee and hip joints in this particular period. We found tibiofemoral osteoarthritis to be less prevalent than osteoarthritis of the hip joint. Tibiofemoral osteoarthritis therefore can be seen as a truly modern phenomenon, which was at least not common until the early nineteenth century.