The association of parturition scars and pelvic shape

A geometric morphometric study

Bibliographic Data

ID8316772
AuthorsL Waltenberger (0000-0002-9670-6117, OREA ‐ Institute for Oriental and European Archaeology, Austrian Academy of Sciences Vienna Austria, corresponding author), D Pany-Kucera (0000-0003-4140-3220, OREA ‐ Institute for Oriental and European Archaeology, Austrian Academy of Sciences Vienna Austria), Katharina Rebay-Salisbury (0000-0003-0126-8693, OREA ‐ Institute for Oriental and European Archaeology, Austrian Academy of Sciences Vienna Austria), P Mitteroecker (0000-0002-5308-3837, Department of Evolutionary Biology University of Vienna Vienna Austria)
Year2021
Volume174
Issue3
Pages519-531
Publication date2021-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Physical Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-9483 • E-ISSN: 1096-8644
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/ajpa.24196
PMID33295660
OpenAlexW3112135069
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited77

OBJECTIVES: Pelvic features, mostly known as parturition scars, have been extensively studied in the last decades and are frequently investigated in archaeological and forensic contexts. It is still unclear, however, whether they really relate to pregnancy and birth, or whether these features are caused by other biomechanical factors. Because the length and difficulty of labor correlates with the form of the birth canal, we studied the association between the expression of pelvic features and pelvic shape using geometric morphometrics. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We scored the expression of the preauricular sulcus, margo auricularis groove, sacral preauricular extension, dorsal and ventral pubic pitting for 54 individuals from a 19th century collection and 19 individuals from the Bronze Age cemetery of Hainburg-Teichtal, Austria. Based on photogrammetric surface models, pelvic shape was captured by 331 landmarks and semilandmarks. The multivariate association between pelvic features and pelvic shape was explored by partial least squares analysis. RESULTS: Within the female subsample, we detected a significant association of a constrained birth canal with a strong expression of the preauricular sulcus, the margo auricularis groove, and a retroverted position of the acetabulum. No significant association was found among males. DISCUSSION: This suggests that difficult or prolonged labor may indeed cause more strongly expressed pelvic features, presumably because of increased strain of the pelvic ligaments during birth. Furthermore, the retroversion of the acetabulum, which is known to cause sacroiliac joint dysfunction, changes the strain on pelvic ligaments and can thus also result in the development of pronounced pelvic features

Biology · Birth canal · Morphometrics · Pelvic tilt · Pelvis · Pregnancy · Sulcus · Anatomy · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies · Medicine · Orthodontics · Pelvic and Acetabular Injuries · Pelvic floor disorders treatments

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