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Updated: Jan 23, 2026
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The Social Dimension of Stress: Experimental Manipulations of Social Support and Social Identity in the Trier Social Stress Test
Published on: November 19, 2015
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Who the Plague Chose: Exploring Intersecting Social Risk in Black Death Mortality
1School of HESBS, Moreno Valley College, Moreno Valley, California, USA.
American Journal of Biological Anthropology
|January 22, 2026
Summary
The Black Death impacted mortality risk differently based on age and sex. Middle-aged males faced higher mortality, highlighting how pandemics interact with existing social and biological vulnerabilities.
Area of Science:
- Paleopathology
- Bioarchaeology
- Historical Epidemiology
Background:
- The Black Death (14th century pandemic) disproportionately affected populations, but demographic influences on mortality risk remain incompletely understood.
- Previous research often examined age or sex independently, lacking a nuanced understanding of intersectional vulnerabilities.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how demographic factors, specifically the intersection of age and sex, influenced mortality risk during the Black Death.
- To test the hypothesis that younger males faced a compounded mortality risk.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of skeletal data from seven medieval London cemeteries using the Wellcome Osteological Research Database (WORD).
- Logistic regression and Kaplan-Meier curves assessed plague mortality risk, controlling for cemetery type, context, and frailty markers.
- Missing data were imputed using missForest.
Main Results:
- The interaction of age and sex revealed that males aged 52-64 had a statistically significant protective effect, indicating lower odds of plague mortality.
- The presence of frailty was a significant factor in mortality risk.
- Cemetery type (layperson/religious) and urban/rural context were not statistically significant predictors.
Conclusions:
- The Black Death amplified existing biological and social vulnerabilities, with middle-aged males exhibiting higher mortality risk.
- Biological susceptibility appeared to outweigh social disadvantage in shaping plague mortality.
- Pandemics are influenced by social inequalities, offering insights into current health disparities.
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