The possible origin of Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease

Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease (LCPD) is a childhood orthopedic pathology that affects the development of the hip. It is a rare disease with a huge variation in annual incidence. It occurs approximately five times more often in boys than in girls. The objective of this article was to formulate a hypothesis about the possible origin of LCPD, from the paleopathological findings of this disease reported until 2017, and to highlight the importance of anthropology, history, paleontology and paleopathology to the study of the origins of disease. By using eight web-based search engines, we performed a review of articles focused on the history, genetics and paleopathological findings of LCPD; we evaluated in total 133 articles published between 1910 and 2017. Out of these, 20 articles belonging to the same publication period were included in this analysis. LCPD was described for the first time approximately 100 years ago and without knowing it was a new disease. In the last years, human remains have been found in which LCPD has been identified, providing relevant information about the origin of this pathology. These data and their historical context can be a basis to propose the Asian continent as the site of origin of LCPD; however, new anthropological, genetic and paleopathological studies are needed to reinforce or refute this hypothesis.