Cranial vault trauma and selective mortality in medieval to early modern Denmark.

ABSTRACT: To date, no estimates of the long-term effect of cranial vault fractures on the risk of dying have been generated from historical or prehistoric skeletons. Excess mortality provides a perspective on the efficacy of modern treatment, as well as the human cost of cranial injuries largely related to interpersonal violence in past populations. Three medieval to early modern Danish skeletal samples are used to estimate the effect of selective mortality on males with cranial vault injuries who survived long enough for bones to heal. The risk of dying for these men was 6.2 times higher than it was for their uninjured counterparts, estimated through a simulation study based on skeletal observations. That is about twice the increased risk of dying experienced by modern people with traumatic brain i

SUBMITTER: Boldsen JL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4330746 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature