Table 1 Principal definitions and measures of maternal mortality
From: Measuring maternal mortality: An overview of opportunities and options for developing countries
Pregnancy-related death is the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the cause of death. This is a time-of-death definition. |
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Maternal death is the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and the site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management but not from accidental or incidental causes. This definition requires cause-of-death information in order to exclude incidental causes. |
Maternal mortality ratio (MMR): number of maternal deaths during a given time period per 100,000 live births during the same time period. |
Maternal mortality rate: number of maternal deaths in a given time period per 100,000 women of reproductive age, or woman-years of risk exposure, in the same time period. |
Lifetime risk of maternal death: the probability of maternal death across a woman's reproductive life, usually expressed in terms of odds. |
Proportion of maternal deaths among female deaths (PMDF): maternal deaths as a proportion of all female deaths of reproductive age, usually defined as 15–49, in a given time period. |