Estimates of the annual number of clinically recognized pregnancies in theUnited States, 1981-1991

The authors estimated the number of clinically recognized pregnancies that occurred annually from 1981 to 1991 in the United States by type of outcome and by race. Estimates of the numbers of livebirths, induced abortions, ec topic pregnancies, and fetal deaths were obtained by using data from the Ce nters for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia. The number of spontaneous abortions was estimated by using previously published, age-spe cific rates. More than 67 million pregnancies occurred during the study per iod. Overall, 62.5% of these pregnancies resulted in livebirths, 21.9% in l egal induced abortions, 13.8% in spontaneous abortions, 1.3% in ectopic pre gnancies, and 0.5% in fetal deaths. These data can be used to provide denom inators for the calculation of a variety of pregnancy outcome-specific rate s.