Collaboration between specialties for respiratory allergies in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-11.

BACKGROUND: The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) has been grouping the allergic and hypersensitivity disorders involving the respiratory tract under topographic distribution, regardless of the underlying mechanisms, triggers or concepts currently in use for allergic and hypersensitivity conditions. In order to strengthen awareness and deliberate the creation of the new "Allergic or hypersensitivity disorders involving the respiratory tract" section of the ICD-11, we here propose make the building process public. METHODS: The new frame has been constructed to cover the gaps previously identified and was based on consensus academic reports and ICD-11 principles. Constant and bilateral discussion was kept with relevant groups representing specialties and resulted in proposals submission into the ICD-11 online platform. RESULTS: The "Allergic or hypersensitivity disorders involving the respiratory tract" section covers 64 entities distributed across five main categories. All the 79 proposals submitted resulted from an intensive collaboration of the Allergy working group, relevant Expert working groups and the WHO ICD governance. CONCLUSION: The establishment of the ICD-11 "Allergic or hypersensitivity disorders involving the respiratory tract" section will allow the dissemination of the updated concepts to be used in clinical practice by many different specialties and health professionals.

Mapping hypersensitivity/allergic diseases in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-11: cross-linking terms and unmet needs.

BACKGROUND: With the aim of actively contributing to the ongoing 11(th) International Classification of Diseases (ICD) revision, an international collaboration led by the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) has decided to revise the classification of hypersensitivity/allergic diseases and to validate it for ICD-11 by crowdsourcing the allergist community. However, understanding that the construction of a classification was necessary but not sufficient, we developed a mapping strategy in the attempt to better fit it to the ICD-11 linearization structure. METHODS: The cross-linking terms process has been constructed based on an algorithm in which we prioritized the pre-coordination, followed by the post-coordination when the first step was not possible. If the above strategies failed to identify the entries, the conditions were ruled as "non specific terms", "no code fit properly" or "missing terms". RESULTS: Amongst the 652 terms distributed in 5 main groups of the Hypersensitivity/Allergic Diseases classification, 169 terms fit directly the codes listed in the ICD-11 beta draft (October 2014 version), 26 were considered as "nonspecific term", 21 were linked to the Foundation by Index, 7 were recorded as inclusions and 2 were cited just in the definition of the condition. The post-coordination was possible for 97 terms, mainly for drug hypersensitivity conditions. We noticed a considerable number of allergen references missing. CONCLUSION: The proposed strategy of cross-linking terms and the results of this process can actively contribute to updating the hypersensitivity and allergic conditions classification in the ICD-11 beta revision and underlines the need for either a new chapter in ICD-11 possibly entitled Hypersensitivity / Allergic Disorders or at the very least the aggregation of all such diseases under the "Diseases of Immune System" chapter in order for the overlaps to be double parented to the appropriate 'system' chapters.

Categories that should be removed from mental disorders classifications: perspectives and rationales of clinicians from eight countries.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the rationales of mental health professionals (mainly psychiatrists and psychologists) from 8 countries for removing specific diagnostic categories from mental disorders classification systems. METHOD: As part of a larger study, 505 participants indicated which of 60 major disorders should be omitted from mental disorders classification systems and provided rationales. Rationale statements were analyzed using inductive content analysis. RESULTS: The majority of clinicians (60.4%) indicated that 1 or more disorders should be removed. The most common rationales were (a) problematic boundaries between normal and psychopathological conditions (45.9% of total removal recommendations), (b) problematic boundaries among mental disorders (25.4%), and (c) problematic boundaries between mental and physical disorders (24.0%). The categories most frequently recommended for deletion were gender identity disorder, sexual dysfunction, and paraphilias, usually because clinicians viewed these categories as being based on stigmatization of a way of being and behaving. A range of neurocognitive disorders were described as better conceptualized as nonpsychiatric medical conditions. Results were analyzed by country and country income level. Although gender identity disorder was the category most frequently recommended for removal overall, clinicians from Spain, India, and Mexico were most likely to do so and clinicians from Nigeria and Japan least likely, probably because of social and systemic factors that vary by country. Systematic differences in removal rationales by country income level may be related to the development, structure, and functioning of health systems. CONCLUSION: Implications for development and dissemination of the classification of mental and behavioral disorders in WHO's ICD-11 are discussed.

Categorization of allergic disorders in the new World Health Organization International Classification of Diseases.

BACKGROUND: Although efforts to improve the classification of hypersensitivity/allergic diseases have been made, they have not been considered a top-level category in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10 and still are not in the ICD-11 beta phase linearization. ICD-10 is the most used classification system by the allergy community worldwide but it is not considered as appropriate for clinical practice. The Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT) on the other hand contains a tightly integrated classification of hypersensitivity/allergic disorders based on the EAACI/WAO nomenclature and the World Health Organization (WHO) may plan to align ICD-11 with SNOMED CT so that they share a common ontological basis. METHODS: With the aim of actively supporting the ongoing ICD-11 revision and the optimal practice of Allergology, we performed a careful comparison of ICD-10 and 11 beta phase linearization codes to identify gaps, areas of regression in allergy coding and possibly reach solutions, in collaboration with committees in charge of the ICD-11 revision. RESULTS: We have found a significant degree of misclassification of terms in the allergy-related hierarchies. This stems not only from unclear definitions of these conditions but also the use of common names that falsely imply allergy. The lack of understanding of the immune mechanisms underlying some of the conditions contributes to the difficulty in classification. CONCLUSIONS: More than providing data to support specific changes into the ongoing linearization, these results highlight the need for either a new chapter entitled Hypersensitivity/Allergic Disorders as in SNOMED CT or a high level structure in the Immunology chapter in order to make classification more appropriate and usable.