fertility rate

rate (rāt) the speed or frequency with which an event or circumstance occurs per unit of time, population, or other standard of comparison.

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basal metabolic rate  an expression of the rate at which oxygen is used by body cells, or the calculated equivalent heat production by the body, in a fasting subject at complete rest. Abbreviated BMR.

birth rate  the number of births in a specified area during a defined period for the total population, often further qualified as to which portion of the population is being examined.

case fatality rate  the ratio of the number of deaths caused by a specified disease to the number of diagnosed cases of that disease.

circulation rate  the amount of blood pumped through the body by the heart per unit time.

death rate  an expression of the number of deaths in a population at risk during one year. The crude death r. is the ratio of the number of deaths to the total population of an area; the age-specific death r. is the ratio of the number of deaths in a specific age group to the number of persons in that age group; the cause-specific death r. is the ratio of the number of deaths due to a specified cause to the total population.

dose rate  the amount of any agent administered per unit of time.

erythrocyte sedimentation rate  (ESR) the rate at which erythrocytes sediment from a well-mixed specimen of venous blood, as measured by the distance that the top of a column of erythrocytes falls in a specified time interval under specified conditions.

fatality rate  case fatality r.

fertility rate  a measure of fertility in a specified population over a specified period of time, particularly the general fertility r., the number of live births in a geographic area in a year per 1000 women of childbearing age.

fetal death rate  the ratio of the number of fetal deaths in one year to the total number of both live births and fetal deaths in that year.

five-year survival rate  an expression of the number of survivors with no trace of disease five years after each has been diagnosed or treated for the same disease.

glomerular filtration rate  (GFR) an expression of the quantity of glomerular filtrate formed each minute in the nephrons of both kidneys, usually measured by the rate of clearance of creatinine.

growth rate  an expression of the increase in size of an organic object per unit of time.

heart rate  the number of contractions of the cardiac ventricles per unit of time.

incidence rate  the probability of developing a particular disease during a given period of time; the numerator is the number of new cases during the specified time period and the denominator is the population at risk during the period.

morbidity rate  an inexact term that can mean either the incidence rate or the prevalence rate.

mortality rate  death r.

prevalence rate  the number of people in a population who have a disease at a given time: the numerator is the number of existing cases of disease at a specified time and the denominator is the total population.

pulse rate  the number of pulsations noted in a peripheral artery per unit of time.

respiration rate  the number of movements of the chest wall per unit of time, indicative of inhalation and exhalation.

sedimentation rate  the rate at which a sediment is deposited in a given volume of solution, especially when subjected to the action of a centrifuge.

stillbirth rate  fetal death r.

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fertility rate,

the number of live births divided by the number of females aged 15 through 44 years of age. It is usually expressed as the number per 1000 women.