Body size and mortality in post-Medieval England

Short stature and body mass at both extremes of the distribution have consistently been linked to poor health outcomes in modern populations, but the nature of the relationship between body size and mortality is poorly understood. This dissertation examines the relationship between stature, body mass, and mortality, and how that relationship may have varied with socioeconomic status and evidence of morbidity in post-medieval England. Adults from Chelsea Old Church, an 18th–19th century high status skeletal collection from the outskirts of London, and Lower Saint Bride's, an 18th–19th century low status skeletal collection from central London, both housed at the Museum of London's Centre for Human Bioarchaeology, were analyzed for this study. Age and sex were estimated, measurements of skeletal elements associated with either stature or body mass were obtained, and evidence of morbidity was recorded. T-tests and ANOVA were used to determine whether body size (stature, mass, and their proxies) differed between socioeconomic strata, and Cox proportional hazards models were used to identify associations between body size variables and risk of mortality, and the influence of socioeconomic status and morbidity on those associations.;Results suggest that there is a relationship between stature, body mass, and risk of mortality, but that it is complex and closely tied to socioeconomic status and evidence of morbidity. Short stature was associated with increased risk of mortality in only high status males, and there was no consistent relationship between body mass and mortality in any of the subsamples. In all cases, the relationship between body size and mortality depended on socioeconomic status, and was altered by the presence of evidence of morbidity. The majority of evidence suggests that stature and mass are not directly related to increased risk of mortality, and that short stature in particular is a side effect of the actual cause of mortality.