Glossary
G
- Geriatric Death Rate
- Death rate per 1,000 population aged 65 and older.
Formula:
- Gestation
- Weeks of pregnancy as computed from the first day of the last menstrual period to the date of delivery.
- Home Health Agency
- A public or private agency that provides skilled nursing care or at least one other therapeutic service on an intermittent or part-time basis.
- Hospice Care
- A coordinated program of home care that provides for inpatient care for terminally ill patients and their families.
- Hospital
- An institution providing medical, surgical, obstetric, or nursing care; and which maintains and operates facilities for the diagnosis, treatment, or care of two or more non-related individuals suffering from illness, injury, or deformity; or where obstetrical or other medical or nursing care is provided for more than 24 hours.
- Hospital Length of Stay
- The number of days from admission to discharge of a hospital inpatient. The average length of stay is often used as a measure of hospital use, and is arrived at by dividing the total number of days stayed by all patients during a year by the number of patients.
- Household
- One or more persons who occupy a group of rooms or a single room that constitutes a housing unit. A HOUSING UNIT is defined as "separate living quarter," that is, occupants do not live and eat with any other persons in the structure.
- Hysterectomy/Hysterotomy
- Hysterectomy is a procedure that removes the uterus either with the fetus inside or after the fetus has been removed. It is usually performed only when a pathological condition of the uterus, such as fibroid tumor, warrants removal or when a woman desires sterilization. Hysterotomy involves surgical entry into the uterus, as in a C-section, and removes a fetus too small to survive even with extraordinary life support measures.
- ICD: International Classification of Diseases
- A numerical system used worldwide for classifying all causes of death. The Ninth Revision was published in 1978 and was first applied, in SCHS and national publications, to 1979 deaths.
- ICDA: International Classification of Diseases Adapted
- A special edition of the Eighth Revision of the ICD, adapted for use in the United States and applied to deaths occurring from 1968 through 1978.
- Immunization-preventable Morbidity and Deaths
- Occurrences of, and deaths from, selected diseases where immunization is available, e.g., diphtheria and pertussis.
- Incidence of Disease
- Number of new occurrences of a disease within a particular time period.
- Induced Abortion
- The purposeful interruption of pregnancy with the intention other than to produce a liveborn infant or to remove a dead fetus and which does not result in a live birth. Liberalization of N.C.'s abortion laws began in 1967, but it was not until 1973 that abortion became available on demand, with the condition it be performed by a licensed physician in a hospital or licensed abortion clinic. Abortion data by mother's county of residence became available in 1978.
- Infant Death
- Death of a liveborn child under one year of age. Infant deaths are the sum of neonatal and postneonatal deaths.
- Infant Death Rate
- Number of infant deaths per 1,000 live births.
Formula:
- Intra-uterine Instillation
- This abortion procedure involves either withdrawing a portion of amniotic fluid from the uterine cavity by a needle inserted through the abdominal wall and replacing this fluid with a concentrated salt solution (known as saline instillation, saline abortion, or saline amniotic fluid exchange) or injecting a prostaglandin - a substance with hormone-like activity - into the uterine cavity through a needle inserted through the abdominal wall (known as intra-uterine prostaglandin instillation). The saline instillation process induces labor, which results in the expulsion of the usually dead fetus approximately 24 to 48 hours later. The interval between prostaglandin injection and expulsion tends to be shorter than in a saline abortion.
- Leading Causes of Death
- The most frequently occurring underlying causes of death. SCHS publications use categories that follow the conventions of the National Center for Health Statistics.
- Live Birth (WHO Definition, 1950)
- The complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of conception, irrespective of the gestation of pregnancy, which, after separation, breathes or shows any other evidence of life, such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or any definite movement of voluntary muscles, whether or not the umbilical cord has been cut or the placenta is attached.
- Living Children
- The number of children still living at the time of this birth.
- Low Birthweight
- Liveborn infants who weigh less than 2,500 grams (5 pounds, 8 ounces or
less) at birth, regardless of the gestation period.
Formula for Low Birthweight Percentage:
- Marital Status
- The categories "married" and "not married" are usually used.
- Marriage
- The legal union of a male and a female (North Carolina G.S. 51-1).
Formula for Marriage Rate:
- Married
- Includes women who are legally married and those who are separated but not legally divorced. In the case of live births and fetal deaths, the term also includes mothers who have been legally divorced 280 or fewer days.
- Maternal
- Of or pertaining to the mother.
- Maternal Death (ICD definition)
- The death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of pregnancy, irrespective of the gestation and site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management, but not from accidental or incidental causes.
- Maternal Death Rate
- Number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births.
Formula:
- Maternal Risk Factors
- Maternal characteristics that are related to high fetal and infant death
rates. For example,
- Age: Under 18 or 35 or older
- Education: Completed less than 12 years
- Marital status: Unmarried
- Birth order: 4 or more children
- History of fetal death: Yes
- History of liveborn infant who died: Yes
- MDC: Major Diagnostic Category
- One of 23 principal diagnosis categories commonly used in studying inpatient hospital use.
- Medicaid
- A public assistance program that pays for the medical care of people who are eligible for cash assistance payments or who have medical needs greater than their resources. The five categories of eligibility are Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (formerly called Aid to Families with Dependent Children), Aid to the Aged (persons 65 and older), Aid to the Disabled, Aid to the Blind, and children who are in foster care or adoptive homes under Title IV-E. The federal government pays the largest share of Medicaid costs.
- Medicare
- An insurance program authorized under Title XVIII of the Social Security Act and funded from federal trust funds to provide basic protection from hospital costs (Part A) and to allow purchase of supplemental coverage for non-institutional services by the individual through premium payments (Part B). Individuals must pay deductibles and coinsurance. Coverage is available: for persons 65 and over who are receiving either Title II (basic Social Security) or railroad retirement benefits; for persons who have received Title II or railroad disability benefits for at least two years; and for persons who are medically determined to have end-stage renal disease.
- Medical (Non-surgical) Abortion
- This non-surgical procedure involves the administration of a medication(s) to induce an abortion. Medications (e.g., methotrexate, mifepristone, misoprostol) are used most frequently early in the first trimester of pregnancy. However, some medications (e.g., prostaglandin suppositories, injectable prostaglandins) may also be administered during the second trimester of pregnancy to induce abortion. Medications may be administered orally, by injection, or intravaginally.
- Mother Smoked
- Percentage of live births to mothers who used tobacco during pregnancy.
Formula:
Page Last Updated December 08, 2003
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