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Clinical otosclerosis and auditory exostoses in ancient Europeans (investigation of Lithuanian paleoosteological samples)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2007

Virgilijus Sakalinskas  and
Rimantas Jankauskas
Virgilijus Sakalinskas*
Affiliation:
Clinics of Otorhinolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Vilnius
Rimantas Jankauskas
Affiliation:
Department of Anatomy, Histology and Anthropology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Vilnius
*
Virgilijus Sakalinskas, M.D., Clinics of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Vilnius, 2035 Vilnius, Justiniskiu 66-35, Lithuania
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Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to establish the incidence of clinical otoscierosis and auditory exostoses in Lithuanian paleopopulations. The total sample consists of 4080 skulls, dating from the Neolithic to the C 17th—C 18th a.d., investigated visually, under magnification and radiologically. Eight cases of clinical otosclerosis and 22 of auditory exostoses were identified. The general epidemiology of otosclerosis (0.19 ± 0.08 per cent) was established to be similar to contemporary populations. This suggests that there are no new aetiological factors attributable to our modern society. Clear diminution of the incidence of auditory exostoses from the 1st to the 2nd millenium A.D. (3.46 ± 0.76 per cent, against 0.06 ± 0.04 per cent, p <0.001) and definite sexual differences (males: 1.21 ± 0.28 per cent; females: 0.17 ± 0.10 per cent, p<0.001) were also noted. In general, auditory exostoses were found much more frequently than in recent populations.

Keywords

OtoscierosisExostosesEar, external PaleopathologyEpidemiology
Type
Historical Article
Information
The Journal of Laryngology & Otology , Volume 107 , Issue 6 , June 1993 , pp. 489 - 491
Copyright
Copyright © JLO (1984) Limited 1993

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