上颌窦是位于鼻腔周围最大的骨质腔,由于其所处位置及结构的特殊性,相比额窦、筛窦、蝶窦,上颌窦更容易受到感染产生炎症反应,因此上颌窦炎是现代社会最常见的炎症性疾病之一。通过对黑水国遗址汉代人群上颌窦的观察,发现该墓地中有40.5%的个体上颌窦内出现骨形态的改变,以穗状骨片为主。女性上颌窦炎出现率远高于男性,但无统计学上的显著差异,男性上颌窦炎左侧出现率高于右侧,女性右侧高于左侧。按照不同的年龄段划分,从未成年期到中年期上颌窦炎的出现率随着年龄的增长而增长,但是通过二元逻辑回归检验,发现上颌窦炎与年龄之间并无统计学上的显著意义。在患有上颌窦炎的个体中,有66.7%的个体都出现了牙周病,一半以上的个体出现了龋齿。这似乎预示着上颌窦炎与牙齿疾病之间有着一定的联系。张掖黑水国遗址汉代人群上颌窦炎的高出现率可能是多因素导致的结果,包括寒冷干燥的气候环境、空气污染、牙齿疾病以及病原微生物等。

Maxillary sinus is the largest bone cavity around the nasal cavity. Because of its special location and structure, maxillary sinus is more likely to be infected and induce inflammatory response than frontal sinus, ethmoid sinus and sphenoid sinus. Therefore, maxillary sinusitis is one of the most common inflammatory diseases in modern humans. We found that, in Heishuiguo population, 40.5% of the examined maxillae show the morphologic change, mainly being spicules type. Maxillary sinusitis seems to affect more women than men in Heishuiguo population, but there are no statistically significant differences between male and female samples. The prevalence of the left side is slightly higher than that of the right side in male samples, conversely for female samples. Moreover we found that between the juveniles to middle age maxillary sinusitis increases with age, but there is no significant difference via the binary logistic regression test. Among the maxillary sinusitis individuals, 66.7% of them have periodontal disease, and over half have caries. In Heishuiguo population maxillary sinusitis seems to interlock with dental disease. The high rate of maxillary sinusitis found in Heishuiguo site may be caused by many factors, such as cold and dry climate, air pollution, tooth diseases and pathogenic microorganisms.