Dr. I. Pap szerk.: Studia historico-anthropologica (Anthropologia Hungarica 22. Budapest, 1992)

DISCUSSION We describe the occurrence of spina bifida in two Hungarian populations: one from the 10th-17th centuries and the other of the present day. In our material the incidence of spina bifida occulta was significantly lower than in the other materials. Thould and Thould (1983) reported 51%, Saluja (1988) 15.2%, Simper (1986) 11%, Ferembach (1963) 27% frequency of spina bifida occulta. The distribution on non-closure of various segments was also different from other historical and contemporaneous material (Saluja 1986, Ferembach 1963). In our material the non-closure of total dorsum of the sacrum was found in one-third of the cases and spina bifida of the Si segment was the rarest. The incidence of spina bifida occulta in males was twice higher than in females. Both lumbalisation of the Sj segment and the sacralisation of L5 vertebra were more frequent among males than females. Spina bifida occulta, lumbalisation and sacralisation could cause a low backache (Hollinshead 1964). The origin of spina bifida is generally regarded as being multifactorial, involving genetic predisposition and environmental triggering factors (Saluja 1988). In our study no significant difference was found between the historical and contemporaneous groups in the frequency of spina bifida occulta in the Hungarian population (4.2% versus 2.3%). However, it does indicate that the product of interaction between the operative genetic and environmental factors has remained constant over the past centuries in Hungary.