title: Assessing the influence of occupational and physical activity on the rate of degenerative change of the pubic symphysis in Portuguese males from the 19th to 20th century.
abstract: Among the many factors suggested as potential sources of variation in the rate of ageing of the pubic symphysis is occupational/physical activity, but this has yet to be demonstrated. This study's main goal is to determine whether occupational/physical activity influences the aging process in the pubic symphysis. We analyzed a sample of 161 males (18-96 years) from two Portuguese identified skeletal collections, where age-related features were recorded in the pubic symphysis as absent/present. The sample was divided in two groups according to the occupation of the individuals (manual and non-manual) and in two groups according to the femoral robusticity index (robust and gracile). The manual and robust groups represent individuals with more physically demanding occupations while the non-manual and gracile groups represent less physically demanding occupations. The possible influence of occupational/physical activity on the rate of ageing was evaluated by comparing the transition age for each age-related feature, between the two groups, using logistic regression. Only the ligamentous outgrowths on the ventral beveling showed a statistically significant younger age in the robust group, indicating a possible faster rate or early timing of change in the individuals with a more physically demanding activity compared with their gracile counterparts. Thus, these results do not provide significant support to the hypothesis that individuals with a greater demanding occupation or physical activity show greater pubic symphysis degeneration. Further testing of this hypothesis in other samples with individuals from known occupation is required.
authors.affiliation: Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom. v.campanacho@sheffield.ac.uk
authors.forename: Vanessa
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Campanacho
authors.forename: Ana Luísa
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.forename: Hugo F V
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Cardoso
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009043:Motor Activity; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D009790:Occupations / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011174:Portugal / Q000453:epidemiology; D011631:Pubic Symphysis / Q000473:pathology*