Exploring poverty: skeletal biology and documentary evidence in 19th–20th century Portugal

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Poverty has many associated deprivations including poor nutrition and a lack of ability to mitigate against environmental conditions: particularly the cold. The latter is particularly associated with an increased risk of developing musculoskeletal disorders. This study of the relationship between socio-economic status (based on historical documents) and joint changes in skeletons in two identified Portuguese collections was expected to show a more joint changes in the low socio-economic status individuals. However, this relationship was not found. The reasons for this are very interesting they could be: methodological (e.g. related to the aetiology of the changes) or a result of the categorisation method (e.g. status does not coincide with risk factors). This paper also recognises the effect that ageing has on the development of joint changes.

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