Glossary
N
- Natural Increase Rate
- The excess of births over deaths among residents of an area.
Formula:
- Neonatal Death
- Death of an infant under 28 days of age.
- Neonatal Death Rate
- Number of neonatal deaths per 1,000 live births.
Formula:
- Non-geriatric Death Rate
- Death rate per 1,000 persons ages 1 year through 64 years.
Formula:
- Non-resident Physician
- A medical doctor who is not currently in a hospital residency program.
- Not Married
- A category of persons who are widowed, divorced, or have never legally married. In the case of live births and fetal deaths, the first two groups are specifically restricted to mothers who have been widowed or legally divorced for more than 280 days.
- Nursing Care Bed
- A bed in a nursing home occupied by a patient receiving skilled or intermediate nursing care. Patients receiving only custodial care do not occupy nursing care beds. Nursing care beds exist also in hospitals that offer extended services.
- Nursing Home
- A facility licensed to offer nursing care to infirm or aged patients.
In North Carolina, nursing homes are licensed to operate in any of three ways:
- As a Skilled Nursing Facility that offers only skilled nursing care
- As an Intermediate Care Facility that offers only intermediate nursing care or
- As a Combination Home that offers skilled and intermediate levels of care
- Occupancy Rate
- The percentage of the bed capacity (of a hospital or nursing home) that
is occupied on the average.
Formula:
- Occurrence
- The facility, county, region, or state where the event occurred,
irrespective of the place of residence. For example, in the tables in
N.C. Vital Statistics, Volume 1, item 9 (births) and 18 (deaths)
provide occurrence data. All marriage and divorce counts are by place
of occurrence.
Formula for Occurrence Rate:
- Occurrence Births
- Percentage of N.C. live births occurring in area.
Formula:
- Occurrence Deaths
- Percentage of N.C deaths occurring in an area.
Formula:
- Perinatal Deaths
- The sum of registered fetal deaths and neonatal deaths.
- Perinatal Death Rate
- Fetal and neonatal deaths per 1,000 live births and fetal deaths.
Formula:
- Place of Death
- The hospital, other institution, or non-institution place of death.
Formulas:
Percentage of deaths occurring in hospitals: 
Percentage of deaths occurring in
non-hospital institutions:
Percentage of deaths occurring in
home or non-institutions:
- Population
- The estimated population of an area as of July 1 of the event year.
Formula:
Percentage of N.C. population residing in area: 
- Postneonatal Death
- Death of an infant aged 28 days and over but less than 1 year of age.
- Postneonatal Death Rate
- Number of postneonatal deaths per 1,000 live births - neonatal deaths.
Formula:
- Poverty Level
- Poverty statistics are based on a set of money income thresholds that vary by family size and makeup. Families or persons with income below their appropriate thresholds are classified as below poverty level. The average poverty threshold for a family of four was $15,569 in 1995 and $13,359 in 1990.
- Pregnancies (reported)
- The total number of live births + fetal deaths of 20 or more weeks gestation + induced abortions.
- Pregnancy Rate
- The number of pregnancies per 1,000 women of reproductive age (15 to 44).
Numerators and denominators may be specific for ages within the 15 to 44 range,
e.g., 15 to 19 or 20 to 24.
Formula:
- Prenatal
- Occurring, existing, or taking place before birth.
- Preterm Birth
- The live birth of an infant born at less than 37 weeks gestation.
- Prevalence of Disease
- Number of people having a disease at a particular point in time.
- Previous Abortions
- The number of previous induced abortions the abortee has had. The current procedure is not included.
- Previous Live Born Now Dead
- The number of liveborn children who died prior to the present delivery.
- Primary Care Physician
- As currently used in SCHS publications, the term refers to a federal or
non-federal practitioner who:
- Is licensed or registered with the Board of Medical Examiners
- Holds the Doctor of Medicine or Doctor of Osteopathy degree and
- Practices in one of the following categories:
- Pediatrics
- Family Practice
- General Practice
- Internal Medicine
- Obstetrics/Gynecology
- Race
- In most SCHS publications, the two categories, "White" and "Minority,"
are used. "Minority" is predominantly black (90%) in North Carolina. In a
few counties having substantial numbers of American Indians, the categories
"White," "Black," "Indian," and "Other" are used in some reports.
Users should note a change in the case of a live birth or fetal death. For 1989 and prior years, race of child was based on race of mother and race of father (when known). Beginning in 1990, race of the child is taken to be that of the mother regardless of race of father. This change serves to reduce the number of reported minority births and fetal deaths and increase the number of reported white births and fetal deaths. Users should be aware of this change when assessing trends before and after 1990. In 1990, the change resulted in 3.5 percent fewer live births and 2.0 percent fewer fetal deaths being coded minority.
- Rate
- A rate is a number computed as (A/B) x C. A percent is also a rate,
expressed per 100. Every rate is measured for a definite time period,
usually a calendar year or a five-year period.
- the numerator: the number of events of interest observed in a population during a given time period. Events in A usually are a part of the denominator B.
- the denominator: the size of the population at risk.
- the quantity: is the unit of measure by which the rate is expressed, e.g., the number of deaths per 1,000 population.
Crude (Unadjusted) Rate, such as the birth rate for all of North Carolina
Specific Rate The class could be categories of age, race, sex, education, or related combinations.
- the numerator: the number of events of interest observed in a population during a given time period. Events in A usually are a part of the denominator B.
- Residence
- The place (county, state, region) where a person lives at the time of an event. College students and military personnel are considered residents of the college or military community. For deaths of inmates of long-term institutions, the institution is considered the residence if the decedent has lived there at least one year. For births, residence is that of the mother, regardless of the place of occurrence.
- Resident Events and Rates
- Unless otherwise specified, all SCHS publications provide resident data.
Examples are in the main tables in the SCHS publication N.C. Vital
Statistics, Volume 1. Items 9 and 18 provide data on the occurrence of
births and deaths respectively, while items 19 and 20 provide marriage and
divorce data by place of occurrence.
Formula for Resident Rate:
- Retained Products
- Fetal tissue that may remain in the uterus after an abortion.
Page Last Updated December 08, 2003
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