1. Definition
The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is the standard diagnostic tool for epidemiology, health management and clinical purposes. This includes the analysis of the general health situation of population groups. It is used by Eurostat as a standard code list for the classification of diseases.
2. Objectives
- Diagnostic tool for epidemiology
- Stats on general health situation by population groups
- Used by EUROSTAT as a standard code list for diseases’ classification
3. Owner
The ICD is maintained and published by the World Health Organization. SCL-International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems is published and maintained by Eurostat.
4. Intended audience
- World Health Organization
- Health Authority within the United Nations System
- Health care services
- Statistics organisations
5. Long description
The International Classification of Diseases is published by the World Health Organization and used worldwide for morbidity and mortality statistics, reimbursement systems, and automated decision support in health care. This system is designed to promote international comparability in the collection, processing, classification, and presentation of these statistics. As in the case of the analogous (but limited to mental and behavioral disorders) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM, currently in version 5), the ICD is a major project to statistically classify health disorders, and provide diagnostic assistance. The ICD is a core statistically-based classificatory diagnostic system for health care related issues of the World Health Organization Family of International Classifications (WHO-FIC).
6. Known implementations
The ICD is published and maintained by the World Health Organization, it is implemented by all the European Union Member States.
7. History / Key milestones
The ICD has been used since the 1900s with ICD-1 until now with ICD-10. ICD-11 should be operational by 2017.