Endocrine Abstracts

Palaeopathology is the study of disease in human remains, most often, skeletal remains. The discipline serves a number of functions, from noting the first appearance of a particular disease, to studying trends in the prevalence of disease over time and space. Joint disease and dental disease are by far the most common disorders found in the skeleton, but examples of infectious disease, malignant disease, and cardio-vascular disease may also be found, and so are many examples of trauma, both accidental and deliberate. Although children always form a large proportion of a skeletal assemblage, it is seldom that any lesions are found in their skeletons.