engleski

Unidentified, multifocal joint disease from the Slovenian Kranj skeletal series

The Župna cerkev cemetery in Kranj contains more than 2100 archaeologically investigated burials dated from the 7th to the 18th century AD. From these a total of 1169 skeletons were available for detailed anthropological analysis. A large number of skeletons (n=55 ; 18 males, 34 females, and 3 subadults) exhibit irregular shaped lytic lesions of various sizes (approx. 5-20 mm) on the joint surfaces. The lesions are polyarticular, generally bilateral, and lytic with no new bone formation. Most commonly affected are the knees, ankles, shoulders, elbows and phalanges of the hand. The vertebrae are usually not affected. The lesions were significantly more frequent in females than males (34/406 or 8.4% compared to 18/478 or 3.7% ; χ² = 7.611, P = 0.005). In terms of the age distribution of the disease the affected individuals cover all age groups, the youngest being a subadult of 7-8 years at time of death, while the oldest is a female older than 60 years of age. At this moment the aetiology of the disease is unclear. The lack of osteophytes, peri-articular erosions, osteoporosis, sclerosis of the affected part of the joint and bony ankylosis rules out more recognizable joint diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, systemic lupus erythematosus, psoriatic arthritis, sarcoidosis, osteochondritis dissecans, and gout. The grouping of individuals with the disease in the cemetery does not appear to be random and may reflect a genetic component to the disease.

multifokalna bolest zglobova ; Kranj ; Slovenija

nije evidentirano