Objective

To estimate the prevalence rate of gout and to explore the social factors that contributed to its development in the various sub-populations in medieval Cambridge.

Materials

177 adult individuals from four medieval cemeteries located in and around Cambridge, UK.

Methods

Lesions were assessed macroscopically and radiographically. Elements with lytic lesions were described and imaged using micro-computed tomography (μCT) to determine their morphology.

Results

Gout was identified in 3 % of the population. Individuals buried in the friary had highest prevalence (14 %), with low prevalence rates in the Hospital (3 %) and town parish cemetery (2 %), with no cases in the rural parish cemetery. Gout was more prevalent during the 14th–15th centuries than the 10th–13th centuries.

Conclusion

The high prevalence rate of gout in the friary is at least partly explained by the consumption of alcohol and purine-rich diets by the friars and the wealthy townsfolk. Medieval medical texts from Cambridge show that gout (known as podagra) was sometimes treated with medications made from the root of the autumn crocus. This root contains colchicine, which is a medicine that is still used to treat gout today.

Significance

This is one of the first studies to assess the epidemiology of gout in medieval England and suggests that gout varied with social status.

Limitations

Our sample size precludes statistical analysis.

Suggestions for further research

Additional studies that assess the epidemiology of gout in medieval Europe is needed in order to be able to fully contextualize these findings.

中文翻译：

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英格兰中世纪剑桥的痛风和“波达格拉”

客观的

估计痛风的患病率，并探讨促成其在中世纪剑桥各个亚群中发展的社会因素。

材料

来自英国剑桥及其周边的四个中世纪墓地的 177 名成年人。

方法

对病变进行宏观和放射学评估。使用微型计算机断层扫描 (μCT) 对具有溶解性损伤的元素进行描述和成像，以确定它们的形态。

结果

在 3% 的人群中发现了痛风。埋葬在修道院中的个体患病率最高（14 %），在医院（3 %）和城镇教区墓地（2 %）的患病率较低，农村教区墓地没有病例。痛风在 14 至 15 世纪比 10 至 13 世纪更为普遍。

结论

修道士中痛风的高患病率至少部分可以解释为修道士和富裕的城镇居民饮酒和富含嘌呤的饮食。来自剑桥的中世纪医学文献显示，痛风（称为 podagra）有时会用秋番红花根制成的药物治疗。这种根含有秋水仙碱，这是一种至今仍用于治疗痛风的药物。

意义

这是评估中世纪英格兰痛风流行病学的首批研究之一，并表明痛风随社会地位而变化。

限制

我们的样本量排除了统计分析。

进一步研究的建议

需要更多的研究来评估中世纪欧洲痛风的流行病学，以便能够将这些发现完全置于背景中。