Gravidity and parity

For other uses of the term in other fields, see parity.

In medicine, parity is a technical term that refers to the number of times a woman or female animal has given birth.

A woman who has never given birth after 20 weeks gestation is referred to as being nulliparous, a nullipara or para 0. A woman who has given birth a particular number of times is referred to as para 1, para 2, para 3 and so on. Biparous or bipara are sometimes used as synonyms for para 2.

A woman who has given birth two or more times is referred to as multiparous. The term multiparous can also be used to describe someone who has given birth to more than one offspring at once. Grand multipara refers to a woman who has given birth five or more times.

Parity is recorded in the format, T-P-A-L, where T is the number of term births, P, the number preterm births, A, the number of abortions (spontaneous or induced) and L, the number of living children. For example, parity of a woman who has given birth at term once and has had one miscarriage would be recorded as P 1-0-1-1.

Term births are those occurring at 37 weeks or beyond. Preterm births are those that occur before 37 weeks.

See also