Height and health: predicting longevity from bone length in archaeological remains

摘要

Contemporary studies show that taller people live longer. Short stature is particularly asso- ciated with an increased risk of cardiovascular and respiratory mortality. It is uncertain whether this association existed in earlier gen- erations, when disease patterns were quite dif- ferent. Before the 19th century the main causes of death were infection, malnutrition, accidents and childbirth. Here we report an analysis of the association between bone length, a marker of stature, and age at death based on the skel- etal remains of 490 subjects obtained from an archaeological investigation in Barton on Humber. Our aim was to determine whether Height-mortality associations existed in earlier Generations.