
The International Statistical Classification of Diseases & Related Health Problems
(ICD) is the most commonly-
ICD provides codes to classify diseases and a wide variety of signs, symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances and external causes of injury or disease. Under this system, every health condition can be assigned to a unique category and given a code, up to 6 characters long. Such categories can include a set of similar diseases.
ICD is published by the World Health Organization (WHO) and used worldwide for morbidity
and mortality statistics, reimbursement systems and automated decision support in
medicine. This system is designed to promote international comparability in the collection,
processing, classification, and presentation of these statistics. The ICD is a core
classification of the WHO Family of International Classifications (WHO-
The ICD is revised periodically and is currently in its tenth edition. ICD-
History
In 1893 a French physician, Jacques Bertillon, introduced the ‘Bertillon Classification of Causes of Death’ at the International Statistical Institute in Chicago. A number of countries adopted Dr Bertillon’s system, and in 1898 the American Public Health Association (APHA) recommended that the registrars of Canada, Mexico and the United States also adopt it. The APHA also recommended revising the system every ten years to ensure the system remained current with medical practice advances. As a result, the first international conference to revise the International Classification of Causes of Death convened in 1900; with revisions occurring every 10 years thereafter. At that time the classification system was contained in one book which included an Alphabetic Index as well as a Tabular List. The book was small compared with current coding texts.
The revisions that followed contained minor changes until the sixth revision of the classification system when the classification system expanded to 2 volumes. The sixth revision included morbidity and mortality conditions and its title was modified to reflect the changes: Manual of International Statistical Classification of Diseases, Injuries and Causes of Death (ICD). After Bertillon’s death, responsibility for ICD revisions fell to the Mixed Commission, a group composed of representatives from the International Statistical Institute and the Health Organisation of the League of Nations. In 1948 the World Health Organization assumed responsibility for preparing and publishing the revisions to the ICD every ten years. WHO sponsored the seventh and eighth revisions in 1957 and 1968 respectively.
In 1959 the US Public Health Service published The International Classification of
Diseases. Adapted for Indexing of Hospital Records and Operation Classification (ICDA).
it was completed in 1962 and a revision of this adaptation -
Succeeding decennial revision conferences (in 1955, 1965 and 1975) recognized the
increasing use of ICD for the indexing of hospital medical records. As a result,
non-
The current annual ICD-
The ICD-
The ICD-
International Classification of Diseases, Clinical Modification (ICD-
It consists of two or three volumes:
· Volumes 1 and 2 contain diagnosis codes. (Volume 1 is a tabular listing and volume 2 is an index.)
· Volume 3 contains procedure codes.
The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) and the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services are the US governmental agencies responsible for overseeing all
changes and modifications to the ICD-
Work on ICD-
Adoption of ICD-
Mental & Behavioural Disorders
The ICD includes a section classifying mental and behavioural disorders. This has
developed alongside the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic & Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders and the 2 manuals seek to use the same codes. There are
significant differences, however, such as the ICD including personality disorders
on the same axis as other mental disorders, unlike the DSM. The WHO is revising their
classifications in these sections as part the development of the ICD-
DSM is the primary diagnostic system for psychiatric and psychological disorders
within the United States and some other countries; and it is used as an adjunct diagnostic
system in other countries. Since the 1990s the APA and WHO have worked to bring the
DSM and the relevant sections of ICD into concordance but some differences remain.
An international survey of psychiatrists in 66 countries comparing use of the ICD-
Godelief Willemse, Tom Van Yperen & Jan Rispens (2003) tested the reliability of
ICD-