VERTEBRAL ARCH DEFECTS IN LUMBAR VERTEBRAE OF PRE-HISTORIC AMERICAN ESKIMOS - A STUDY OF SKELETONS IN AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY CHIEFLY FROM POINT HOPE ALASKA

The incidence of lumbar vertebral arch defects was studied in 295 Eskimo skeletons now in the American Museum of Natural History, New York, which were obtained from adjacent burial grounds at Point Hope, Alaska. One burial ground containing 47 skeletons was used by the Ipiutak at about the start of the Christian era. The other burial ground was used by the Tigara a thousand years later and contained 248 skeletons. The lesion is a separation of the vertebral arch from the vertebral body. It usually involves the fifth lumbar vertebra but may involve others and more than one. The present incidence in the United States is about 7%. Among the Tigara the incidence was 45% and more than twice that of the Ipiutak, 21%. The youngest case was in a child of five and the deformity was uncommon before adult life. The incidence and extent of the lesion increased with age suggesting an hereditary weakness as an etiological factor. No other etiological factor could be determined although several were considered. The clinical disability could not be determined but it seemed to have no effect on longevity. Copyright © 1968 Wiley‐Liss, Inc., A Wiley Company