CHANGES IN THE DISTRIBUTION OF OSTEOARTHRITIS OVER HISTORICAL TIME

A total of 2635 skeletons recovered from different sites in England wa s examined for the presence of osteoarthritis (OA); 206 were from pre- medieval sites, 1453 from medieval sites and 976 from post-medieval si tes. Where OA was considered to be present in a joint, the site was no ted and for each time period the total number of anatomical sites with the condition was determined and the number of major sites with OA (1 0 in number) was expressed as a proportion of this total. There were n o differences in the distribution of osteoarthritis between the pre-me dieval and medieval periods but there were between the medieval and po stmedieval periods. In the post-medieval period the proportion of oste oarthritis of the knee increased whereas that of the hip decreased; th e proportion of osteoarthritis of the hands also increased whereas tha t of the wrist decreased. Other data presented indicate that patellofe moral disease is about twice as common as tibio-femoral disease in bot h medieval and postmedieval periods and that lateral compartment disea se is almost as common as medial compartment disease.