Possible Gouty Arthritis in Lapita‐Associated Skeletons from Teouma, Efate Island, Central Vanuatu

Abstract

The discovery of the ca. 3,000‐year‐old Lapita cemetery site of Teouma on Efate Island, Vanuatu, has for the first time provided the opportunity for biological anthropologists to begin to address issues of health at a population level in these previously elusive people. Macroscopic observation and radiography have revealed the occurrence of erosive arthritis in seven individuals from Teouma. Differential diagnosis of the disease causing the lesions includes gout, rheumatoid arthritis, and the seronegative spondyloarthropathies. On the basis of the type and pattern of lesions and the epidemiology of erosive arthropathies in the Pacific Islands, a diagnosis of gout may be tentatively proposed, giving a crude prevalence rate of 35% (n = 7/20) in the sample. The occurrence of gout in a skeletal sample of possible Polynesian ancestors provides tantalizing clues to the antiquity of a disease which is a significant modern health problem in some Pacific Island populations.