Frailty and survival in the 1918 influenza pandemic.

ABSTRACT: One of the most well-known yet least understood aspects of the 1918 influenza pandemic is the disproportionately high mortality among young adults. Contemporary accounts further describe the victims as healthy young adults, which is contrary to the understanding of selective mortality, which posits that individuals with the highest frailty within a group are at the greatest risk of death. We use a bioarchaeological approach, combining individual-level information on health and stress gleaned from the skeletal remains of individuals who died in 1918 to determine whether healthy individuals were dying during the 1918 pandemic or whether underlying frailty contributed to an increased risk of mortality. Skeletal data on tibial periosteal new bone formation were obtained from 369 individuals fr

SUBMITTER: Wissler A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10589609 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature