Mortality rate

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Mortality rate (the word mortality comes from mortal, which originates from Latin mors, death) is the number of deaths (from a disease or in general) per 1000 people and typically reported on an annual basis. It is distinct from morbidity rate, which refers to the number of people who have a disease compared to the total number of people in a population.

One distinguishes:

The crude death rate, the total number of deaths per 1000 people.
The perinatal mortality rate, the sum of neonatal deaths and fetal deaths (stillbirths) per 1,000 births.
The maternal mortality rate, the number of maternal deaths due to childbearing per 100,000 live births.
The infant mortality rate, the number of deaths of children less than 1 year old per thousand live births.
The standardised mortality rate (SMR) or age-specific mortality rate (ASMR) - This refers to the total number of deaths per 1000 people of a given age (e.g. 16-65 or 65+).

In regard to the success or failure medical treatment or procedures, one would also distinguish:

The early mortality rate, the total number of deaths in the early stages of an ongoing treatment, or in the period immediately following an acute treatment.
The late mortality rate, the total number of deaths in the late stages of an ongoing treatment, or a significant length of time after an acute treatment.

Note that the crude death rate as defined above and applied to a whole population can give a misleading impression. For example, the number of deaths per 1000 people can be higher for developed nations than in less-developed countries, despite standards of health being better in developed countries. This is because developed countries have relatively more older people, who are more likely to die in a given year, so that the overall mortality rate can be higher even if the mortality rate at any given age is lower. A more complete picture of mortality is given by a life table which summarises mortality separately at each age. A life table is necessary to give a good estimate of life expectancy.

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