Chronic maxillary sinusitis in palaeopathology: A review of methods

This study reviews the palaeopathological literature discussing maxillary sinusitis to examine current trends and issues within the study of this condition, and to make recommendations for future research in this area.

Seventy-five studies were identified through a literature search of digital and physical sources.

Information regarding study metadata, the populations investigated, sinusitis diagnostic criteria, and sinusitis prevalence was examined.

Populations from the UK and Europe were the most studied, reflecting both palaeopathology's systemic colonialism and academic legacies. Most studies used diagnostic criteria published in the mid-1990s, with some subsequent studies modifying these criteria.

The diagnostic criteria from 1995 are widely used but do not include all possible bone changes seen within sinusitis. There is also a need for researchers to engage in issues of data reductionism when using descriptive categories for archaeological sites and populations.

This paper provides considerations as to how the 1995 diagnostic criteria may be revised by future researchers and synthesises much of the published sinusitis prevalence data to assist researchers interested in the palaeopathology of respiratory disease.

More general osteological research, which includes palaeopathological information, was likely missed from this review due to the choice of key terms and languages used in the literature search.

Additional research into sinusitis in archaeological populations outside of Western Europe is required. Further work examining the ability to compare pathological data from macroscopic observation and medical imaging would be advantageous to palaeopathology as a whole.