Biomedical subjects

Jesper L Boldsen

Publications and source records attributed to Jesper L Boldsen.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2007

Early childhood stress and adult age mortality--a study of dental enamel hypoplasia in the medieval Danish village of Tirup.

This study explores how linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) affects mortality in the village of Tirup (A.D. 1150-1350), Denmark. Data consist of information on 583 skeletons aged 1 year or more. Three partly overlapping subsamples were defined. (1) 104 skeletons of young children aged 1-6 years and 120 skeletons of adults giving information on LEH. (2) 458 skeletons aged 6 years or more. (3) 109 adult skeletons (aged 20 years or more) that provided transition analysis age estimates, sex assessments, and LEH information. Of the 109 skeletons in Subsample 3, 60 had no and 49 had at least one LEH. In Subsample 1, it was found that the case fatality rate for episodes potentially leading to LEH dropped from over 0.5 in 1-year olds to around 0.1 in 3-5-year olds. Only models with heterogeneity of frailty could describe late childhood and adolescent mortality. Further, it was shown that only a model with continuously varying frailty preserved heterogeneity to adulthood. Among young adult females and males in all adult ages, people with LEH experienced a higher mortality than people without it. Among males, the mortality rate ratio (MRR) was 2.28. The analyses indicate that the MRR gives an unbiased estimate for the extra risk of dying for adult males with LEH. The values of the case fatality rates for young children might be slightly biased upward because of a higher than average number of older children and adolescents dying with LEH.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Outside St. Jørgen: leprosy in the medieval Danish city of Odense.

Leprosy was a common and dreaded disease in the Danish Middle Ages (AD 1050-1536). Starting in the second half of the 13th century, leprosaria were established in many Danish towns and cities. In the city of Odense (on the island of Funen, Denmark), the cemetery of the leprosarium was totally excavated, and four nonleprosarium medieval and early modern cemeteries have been partly excavated. This paper explores the frequency of leprosy in the nonleprosarium cemeteries in Odense, and looks for evidence of selective exclusion from the ordinary population. The analyses are based on 733 skeletons from four cemeteries in Odense: the Gray Friars monastery, St. Albani parish church, St. Knuds cathedral, and Black Friars monastery. Seven lesions are scored and, based on known epidemiological properties (i.e., specificity and sensitivity) of these lesions, scores were transformed to statistics characterizing an individual's risk of having suffered from leprosy. This statistical approach remains of primary theoretical value, pending confirmation by independent research groups at other sites. Prevalence of the skeletal manifestation of leprosy at death varied between 0-17% among the different cemeteries in Odense. The highest prevalence was seen in cemeteries with many burials before AD 1400. It is estimated that before AD 1400, between 14-17% of those buried in the nonleprosarium cemeteries suffered from leprosy. In all nonleprosarium cemeteries, there was evidence for selective exclusion of people with facial leprosy lesions. For a short period just up to AD 1300, the cemetery of the Odense leprosarium had, on average, more than 20 yearly burials. The establishment of the leprosarium was followed within a relatively short period by a dramatic decline in the number of sufferers of leprosy in the nonleprosarium cemeteries. The number of yearly burials in the leprosarium cemetery also declined rapidly during the 14th century. The present analyses do not permit conclusions about the reasons for this decline in leprosy prevalence.

Bone and Bones↗

PubMed2005

Analysis of dental attrition and mortality in the Medieval village of Tirup, Denmark.

New directions and new questions raised in the study of health in the past justify this reanalysis of the pattern of dental attrition in the Medieval Danish population of Tirup. Dental attrition was scored on all permanent molars from the Tirup skeletal sample. Scores were analyzed by means of logistic regression of the probability of having entered a given stage of wear for a given tooth in a way that is very similar to transition analysis. The primary determinant of dental attrition was age at death. In addition to age, the effects of sex, side, and dating were analyzed. In order to assess the homogeneity of the process of wearing teeth down, a third-order polynomial in age-at-death was also fitted to the transition probabilities. It was found that age is the single most important determinant of dental attrition, and that sex or side did not differentiate the rate of attrition. In several transitions, there was evidence of heterogeneity, indicating both random and systematic interpersonal differences in the rate of attrition and an association between the rate of attrition and age-at-death. It was found that attrition proceeded more quickly after AD 1300 than prior to that date. It is suggested that this was due to a possible general deterioration of living conditions in Northern Europe and an increased reliance on grain for food during the first half of the 14th century. The temporal effect on attrition rate accounts for some but not all the observed heterogeneity wear.

Age Factors↗

PubMed2005

Leprosy and mortality in the Medieval Danish village of Tirup.

Leprosy was a well-recognized and dreaded disease in Denmark in the Middle Ages (AD 1000-1536). A large fraction of the population was affected by leprosy in the 13th century. This paper analyzes the correlation between signs of leprosy and risk of dying in the small Danish village of Tirup (AD 1150-1350). Seven different dichotomous osteological lesions indicative of leprosy are analyzed, and it is possible to score at least one of these conditions on 135 skeletons of adult or adolescent people (aged 14 or more). Scores were transformed to a statistic, lambda, indicating the likelihood that the person to whom the skeleton belonged suffered from leprosy. The analyses indicate that the prevalence of leprosy among adult people in Tirup was 26% (95% confidence interval, 17-35%). The lambda statistic indicates that people who died with signs of leprosy did not differ in the distribution of age at death from those who did not have such signs. Skeletons showing dental enamel hypoplasia were less likely to come from skeletons with high lambda-values. The association between lambda and dental enamel hypoplasia indicates a relationship between stress in early childhood (ages 1-6 years) and subsequent development of signs of leprosy.

Bone and Bones↗

PubMed2005

Testing conditional independence in diagnostic palaeoepidemiology.

Leprosy was a well-known and dreaded disease in the Middle Ages. A substantial fraction of the adult population carried leprosy-related lesions. Previous research analyzed the occurrence and implications of seven such lesions in samples of medieval skeletons. These analyses were carried out under the assumption of conditional independence among lesion scores. The present paper examines this assumption by developing a test based on the odds ratios and applying the test to three rural medieval samples from Europe: Tirup from the 12th-14th century AD in Jutland, Denmark; Refshale from the 12th-14th century AD on the island of Lolland, Denmark; and Lauchheim from AD 460-680 in southern Germany. Signs of nonzero prevalence of leprosy at death were found in all three samples: Tirup, 25.5% (95% CI, 17.2-34.6%); Refshale, 39.1% (95% CI, 25.5-54.7%); and Lauchheim, 16.2% (95% CI, 10.0-22.9%). It is shown that when leprosy is the prime factor creating variation in the lesion scores in and between samples, the assumption of conditional independence cannot be rejected.

Bone and Bones↗

PubMed2002

Functional ovarian cysts in premenopausal and gynecologically healthy women.

The present study describes 29 women coincidentally found to have ovarian cysts while participating in a cross-sectional study. The prevalence of functional ovarian cysts is determined. In this study, 428 women, aged 14-45 years, were examined by transvaginal ultrasonography. The women were gynecologically healthy and were using either no contraception, intrauterine contraceptive devices, none of which were hormone releasing, or oral contraception (OC). Cysts were defined as cystic spaces larger than 30 mm. All women were asymptomatic and regularly menstruating.The prevalence of ovarian cysts was lower for women using OC than for women using no contraception or using intrauterine contraceptive devices. The relative risk (measured as the prevalence proportion ratio) of having an ovarian cyst when using OC was 0.22 (CI: 0.13-0.39), compared to women not using OC. No difference was found in the prevalence of ovarian cysts between women using intrauterine contraceptive devices and women using no contraception. The prevalence of ovarian cyst increased throughout the menstrual cycle in women not using OC. This relation was not found in the group of users of OC. The majority of the cysts resolved within the first few days of menstruation. Sixty-five percent of the cysts persisting after menstruation had resolved at the first control examination 3 months later, independently of use of OC. Low-dose monophasic contraceptive pills seem to have a protective effect against development of functional ovarian cysts, independent of the type of gestagen and the dose of ethinylestradiol used. Ovarian cysts resolved independently of treatment with OC. The use of intrauterine contraceptive device had no influence on the occurrence of functional ovarian cysts.

Adolescent↗