The official list of disease categories issued by the World Health Organization; subscribed to by all member nations, who may assign their own terms to each ICD category. ICDA (International Classification of Diseases, adapted for use in the United States and prepared by the U.S. Public Health Service) represents the official list of diagnostic terms to be used for each ICD category in this country.
A publication of the World Health Organization (WHO), revised periodically, and now in its 9th Revision, dated 1975. The full title is The International Classification of Diseases, Injuries, and Causes of Death. This classification, which originated for use in deaths, is used world-wide for that purpose. In addition, it has been used widely in the United States for hospital diagnosis classification since about 1955 through adaptations and modifications made in the United States of the 7th, 8th, and 9th Revisions. Modification was required for hospital use since, as discussed under classification, the purpose of the classification determines the pigeonholes; for example, “death pigeonholes” are quite different, in many instances, from those for illnesses and injuries. The modification in current use, the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (1CD-9-CM), published in 1978, has been in official use in the United States since 1979.
A World Health Organization classification of all known diseases and syndromes. The diseases are divided according to system (respiratory, renal, cardiac, etc.) or type (accidents, malignant growth, etc.). Each of them is given a three-digit number to facilitate computerization. This classification allows mortality and morbidity rates to be compared nationally and regionally. A restricted ICD is published every ten years; a similar classification is being developed for impairments, disabilities and handicaps.
A codification of diseases, injuries, causes of death, and procedures including operations and diagnostic and nonsurgical procedures. The ICD’s principal use is to standardize reporting of illness, death, and procedures. The publication is essential to the compilation of statistical information about diseases in a format that allows international comparison of those data.
The widely used acronym for the International Classification of Diseases is ICD. It is a comprehensive compilation of all recognized diseases published by the World Health Organization. An updated edition is typically released approximately every decade. The ICD plays a crucial role in helping countries and organizations collect statistical data on disease prevalence and the underlying causes of mortality.