Was the chance of cancer really low in the pre-industrial world?

Today Half of all British It is expected that they will be diagnosed with cancer within their lifetime. However, archaeological evidence from the early days has long implied that only 1 percent of the island’s pre-industrial inhabitants suffered a catastrophic illness.

Now, a new study suggests that the numbers may have been the total being calculated.

so Research Recently published in the journal cancerArchaeologists could have used the latest cancer detection tools on bones from burial centuries ago to have a cancer incidence in the UK before the Industrial Revolution at least 10 times higher than previously thought. I decided that I had sex.

This study was from the University of Cambridge Earrings MitchellIs spending time between paleopathological research in the university’s archeology department and the National Health Service Hospital in the country performing orthopedic surgery for cancer patients. Based on his experience with modern patients, Mitchell has always been skeptical of anthropological studies, and past cancer incidence in the pre-industrial British population is largely due to significantly lower levels of environmental carcinogens. Because of this, it suggests that it is much lower than today.

Before the Industrial Revolution, Britain was not completely free of carcinogens. People consume alcohol on a regular basis, are exposed to indoor pollutants erupting from firewood and coal fires, and face the risk of cell mutations as they age. However, the threat of cancer increases significantly when carcinogens such as tobacco (first introduced in the UK in the 16th century) and pollution caused by industrial activity (beginning in the 18th century) are introduced into daily life. did.

Superficial view

Previous studies of cancer incidence in pre-industrial populations have relied primarily on visual assessment of skeletal debris, looking for characteristic lesions that indicate the spread of a particular cancer.

Mitchell believes that is why ancient cancers have been underestimated. Most cancers start in soft tissue, and cancer that spreads to the bone spreads outward from the bone marrow. Therefore, looking at the outer surface of the bone alone does not give the whole picture.

To better identify potential cancers in ancient human bodies, Mitchell and his team use the same tools (CT scans and x-rays) used to diagnose bone cancer in modern patients. Was used to analyze the skeletons of 143 adults from six medieval cemeteries around Cambridge. , England, 6th to early 16th century AD

Sample size was limited by the quality of bone available. “After being on the ground for 500 to 1,000 years, we tend to lose bones and be damaged by tree roots and rodents,” says Mitchell. He focused on the skeleton, where the pelvis, spines, and femur are intact, that is, the bloodstream-rich areas where bone metastases are most common.

The team made a diagnosis of cancer only if Mitchell’s assessment, which combined CT and X-ray evidence, agreed with Alastair Littlewood, a radiologist at Peterborough City Hospital. This two-layer approach excluded the skeletons of almost all subjects. Ultimately, the team detected cancer in the bones of 5 out of 143 people.

However, that number does not cover all cancer cases that may occur in the test population. Only one-third to one-half of modern cancer deaths involve metastasis to bone, and CT scans take time to detect bone cancer. When researchers applied these constraints to the medieval skeleton, they estimated that 9 to 14 percent of pre-industrial British people were more likely to have cancer. This is a 10x estimate of about 1 percent of what it was before.

Without the ability to use blood tests and biopsies to rule out other diseases, there is no way to know if all the bone lesions identified in the study were the result of cancer. Also, the study was conducted using specimens from a single geographic area, so it does not necessarily represent the entire early Middle Ages of England. But Mitchell says Cambridge was “very average” for the English town at the time.

The complex reality of pre-industrial illness

This new study complicates the historical stereotypes of medieval illnesses as a triple win of war and accident infections, malnutrition and injuries.

“This is a great next step in the study of bioarchaeology and paleopathology,” says bioarchaeologists. Roselyn Campbell, The director Paleo-Oncology Research Organization, A coalition of scholars studying ancient cancer. (Campbell was not involved in the current study.)

While more and more archaeologists have access to X-ray equipment, she says, due to lack of funding and logistical challenges, most researchers have no access to CT scanners. She wants more colleagues to take advantage of CT technology in particular.

“It’s been decades ago that scholars have begun to seriously look for evidence of cancer in the past,” she says. Campbell warns against using a single study to make broad inferences about past cancer incidence, but researchers use Mitchell’s method to use a larger sample size, He states that he can investigate past cancers over a wider space and time.

Mitchell is most excited about the impact of this study on modern medicine. Scientists are aware of how carcinogens such as cigarettes and smoke from factories and cars affect us. But seeing how cancer has affected pre-industrial societies may help future researchers quantify how those cancer-causing products have changed human health. Maybe. “As a clinician, it is helpful to have some data points for a long time to see if the prevalence of cancer is increasing at a certain rate. Eliminating these carcinogens is “How much can it affect?” He also said that this study better understands the effects of non-industrial carcinogens such as solar radiation, lead, indoor fires, viruses and parasites. It states that it may be useful for.

Both researchers emphasize that not all cancers are caused by carcinogens such as tobacco and industrial pollutants. Age, genetics, and random mutations can also play a role. “If you remove all pollution and all smoking, your cancer will go down, but it won’t go away,” says Mitchell. Nonetheless, paleopathology in conjunction with modern medicine will one day “help to quantify how certain insults to your body increase or decrease your risk of cancer.” ..

If not, Campbell says it’s worth continuing to diagnose past cancers. “There is always some uncertainty, which is fine,” she says. “We don’t always have a definitive answer, we need to be okay.”