Description

EXPOSURE1 (V623) is a constructed variable that draws upon responses to several questions to differentiate between pregnant women, postpartum amenorrheic women, menopausal or infecund women, and fecund women.

When children are chosen as the unit of analysis, the woman respondent indicates the mother of the child.

According to the DHS Recode Manuals, these categories are actualized as follows:

• Pregnant women

• Postpartum amenorrheic women are those whose period has not returned since the last birth in the three/five years preceding the survey.

• Women are defined as being menopausal if they are not pregnant and not postpartum amenorrheic, are not currently using a contraceptive method, and have not had a period in the six months preceding the survey or report they are in menopause.

• Women are defined as being infecund if they are not menopausal and not postpartum amenorrheic and not pregnant, have had no birth in the five years preceding the survey, and either (Model "A" countries) have been continuously married and have not used contraception in the five years preceding the survey, or (Model "B" countries) have been married one time and first married five or more years before the survey and have never used contraception.

• Fecund women are all women not included in the preceding categories.

Comparability — Index

Comparability

Apart from changes in the universe, EXPOSURE1 (V623) has limited comparability issues. For some samples, postpartum amenorrhea was determined from the most recent birth in the previous 3 years, while for the majority of samples it was determined for the 5 years preceding the survey. See exceptions below.

Comparability - Standard DHS

EXPOSURE1 (V623) is constructed from questions in the standard DHS questionnaire for Phase 2 forward. Starting in Phase 2, countries had the option to define postpartum amenorrhea based on the most recent birth in the preceding three years, as opposed to five years.

Universe