Images in Clinical Medicine

Kim Eagle, M.D., Editor

Osteoporosis in a Woman of the Early Bronze Age

Peter Frigo, M.D., and Christine Lang, M.D.

N Engl J Med 1995; 333:1468November 30, 1995

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Article

Figure 1 Panel A shows the skeleton of a person buried at Unterhautzental, Austria, in the early Bronze Age (between 2200 and 1600 B.C.), and Panel B the results of dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry of the hip. It was determined that the person was a woman who died at about 45 years of age, given the degree of closure of the cranial sutures and the configuration of the skull, teeth, and pelvis. The bone mineral density of the femoral neck (rectangle) was 0.831 g per square centimeter. The mean (±SD) value for all 14 women of a similar age who were found at this site was 0.981±0.148 g per square centimeter, and the mean value for the 5 men was 1.195±0.257 g per square centimeter. The value in the women suggests that, despite their undoubtedly more active lives in this farming community, they, like women today, had lower bone mineral density than men and were at greater risk for fracture.

Kim Eagle, M.D.

Peter Frigo, M.D.
Christine Lang, M.D.
Vienna University Hospital, A-1090 Vienna, Austria

Citing Articles (3)

Citing Articles

1. 1

   S. Mays, B. Lees, J.C. Stevenson. (1998) Age-dependent bone loss in the femur in a medieval population. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 8:2, 97-106
   CrossRef

2. 2

   (1996) Osteoporosis 4000 Years Ago. New England Journal of Medicine 334:11, 735-735
   Full Text

3. 3

   P. Frigo, C. Lang, E. Lauermann, W. Eppel, M. Teschler-Nicola, E. Reinold, J. C. Huber. (1996) Age-and sexdependent differences in bone density in 4000-year-old individual from an excavation in unterhautzenthal, lower austria. Osteoporosis International 6:S1, 117-117
   CrossRef

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