Clinical Scorecard: What Medieval Bones Reveal

At a Glance

Key Highlights

• Burial location correlated more with social status than disease status.
• Leprosy patients were largely absent from urban parish cemeteries.
• Tuberculosis was found in both urban and rural populations without differential burial treatment.
• No significant mortality difference between individuals with and without leprosy.
• Individuals with tuberculosis showed longer survivorship than those without lesions.

Guideline-Based Recommendations

Diagnosis

• Use established diagnostic criteria based on characteristic bone lesions for leprosy and tuberculosis.

Management

• Consider historical context of care and burial practices for individuals with infectious diseases.

Monitoring & Follow-up

• Assess skeletal evidence to understand disease burden and survivorship.

Risks

• Social and institutional factors may influence burial practices over disease status.

Patient & Prescribing Data

Individuals from medieval Danish cemeteries with skeletal evidence of leprosy and tuberculosis.

Historical use of leprosy hospitals for care and burial of affected individuals.

Clinical Best Practices

• Incorporate social status considerations in the analysis of burial practices.
• Utilize spatial distribution analysis to understand disease prevalence and treatment.

References

• Osteoarchaeological analysis of medieval Danish cemeteries