Department of Anthropology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA.
Am J Phys Anthropol. 2012 Nov;149(3):405-16. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.22138. Epub 2012 Sep 14.
Periodontal disease is one of the most common chronic diseases in living populations, and most studies that have examined sex differences in periodontal disease have found higher frequencies in men compared to women. This study examines sex differences in periodontal disease in two cemeteries from medieval London: the East Smithfield cemetery (c. 1349-1350), an exclusively Black Death cemetery that represents catastrophic mortality (n = 161), and the St. Mary Graces cemetery (c. 1350-1538), a post-Black Death attritional assemblage that represents normal medieval mortality (n = 100). The results reveal a significantly higher frequency of periodontal disease, independent of age, among males compared with females in St. Mary Graces, but no significant difference between the sexes in East Smithfield. The sex differences in the attritional assemblage might reflect heightened susceptibility to periodontal disease in the living population or sex differences in frailty. The differences in the sex patterns of periodontal disease between the two cemeteries might be the result of disproportionately negative effects of the Great Bovine Pestilence and consequent decreases in dairy availability on female oral health among victims of the Black Death.
牙周病是人群中最常见的慢性疾病之一，大多数研究牙周病的性别差异时发现男性的发病率高于女性。本研究在伦敦两个墓地中考察了牙周病的性别差异：东史密斯菲尔德墓地（约 1349-1350 年），一个专门埋葬黑死病患者的墓地，代表了灾难性的死亡率（n=161），以及圣玛丽格雷丝墓地（约 1350-1538 年），一个黑死病后的损耗性墓地，代表了正常的中世纪死亡率（n=100）。结果表明，在圣玛丽格雷丝墓地中，男性的牙周病发病率明显高于女性，而在东史密斯菲尔德墓地中，男女之间没有显著差异。损耗性墓地中性别差异可能反映了人群中牙周病易感性的增加，或者脆弱性的性别差异。两个墓地中牙周病性别模式的差异可能是由于大牲畜疫病的负面影响不成比例，以及随之而来的黑死病受害者中奶制品供应减少对女性口腔健康的影响。
