Bioarchaeology uses human skeletal remains to reconstruct varied experiences of individuals and populations in the past, including patterns of health across time periods and cultural contexts. In the past three decades, bioarchaeological studies have highlighted the concept of “frailty,” operationalizing it as increased risk of mortality or cumulative phenotypes. Using data from medieval London cemeteries, we integrate these two approaches to frailty in past populations. First, we estimate the risks of mortality and survivorship (hazard and survival analyses) associated with 10 biomarkers and use these results to construct population-specific frailty and resilience indices. Then, we apply the indices to adult individuals to explore frailty and resilience differentials between males and females in medieval London. Findings suggest that the male-female morbidity-mortality paradox observed in modern populations may not have existed in this context, which may be explained by preferential cultural buffering of men in this patriarchal, urban setting.

中文翻译：

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虚弱还是坚韧？基于危害和累积表型的方法来识别中世纪伦敦健康不平等的信号


生物考古学使用人类骨骼遗骸来重建个人和人群过去的不同经历，包括不同时期和文化背景的健康模式。在过去的三十年里，生物考古学研究强调了“脆弱”的概念，将其定义为死亡风险增加或累积表型。使用来自中世纪伦敦墓地的数据，我们将这两种方法整合在一起，以治疗过去人群的衰弱。首先，我们估计与 10 种生物标志物相关的死亡率和生存率风险 （风险和生存分析），并使用这些结果构建人群特异性虚弱和恢复力指数。然后，我们将这些指数应用于成年个体，以探索中世纪伦敦男性和女性之间的虚弱和复原力差异。研究结果表明，在现代人群中观察到的男性-女性发病率-死亡率悖论在这种情况下可能不存在，这可能是由于在这种父权制的城市环境中对男性的优先文化缓冲来解释。