Class Health Dictionary

The difference between the lower and upper limits of a class.... class interval

Assignment to predesignated classes on the basis of perceived common characteristics. A means of giving order to a group of disconnected facts.... classification

Arrangement of diseases into groups having common characteristics. Useful in efforts to achieve standardization in the methods of presenting mortality and morbidity data from different sources and, therefore, in comparability. May include a systematic numerical notation for each disease entry. Examples include the International Statistical Classification of Diseases, Injuries and Causes of Death.... classification of disease

A World Health Organisation classi?cation 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 computerisation. This classi?cation allows mortality and morbidity rates to be compared nationally and regionally. A revised ICD is published every ten years; a similar classi?cation is being developed for impairments, disabilities and handicaps.... international classification of disease (icd)

Classification of health and health-related domains that describe body functions and structures, activities and participation. The domains are classified from body, individual and societal perspectives. Since an individual’s functioning and disability occurs in a context, this classification includes a list of environmental factors.... international classification of functioning, disability and health (icf) a

A classification of diseases, conditions and other reasons for attendance for primary care. This classification is an adaptation of the ICD but makes allowance for the diagnostic uncertainty that prevails in primary care.... international classification of health problems in primary care (ichppc)

A systematic taxonomy of the consequences of injury and disease. See “disability”; “handicap”; “impairment”.... international classification of impairments, disabilities and handicaps (icidh)

The official classification of the World Organisation of Family Doctors. It includes three elements of the doctor-patient encounter: the reason for the encounter; the diagnosis; and the treatment or other action or intervention.... international classification of primary care (icpc)

A list of diagnoses and identifying codes used by medical practitioners and other health care providers. The coding and terminology provide a uniform language that permits consistent communication on claim forms. Data from earlier time periods were coded using the appropriate revision of the ICD for that time period. Changes in classification of causes of death in successive revisions of the ICD may introduce discontinuities in cause of death statistics over time.... international statistical classification of diseases and related health problems, tenth revision (icd-10)

An instrument which assesses recipient’s care needs. It has a number of classification levels, ranging from high to low care. These classification levels are sometimes used for placement, staffing level and reimbursement purposes.... resident classification instrument

As factors such as the cause of death and the incidence of diseases vary in di?erent social strata, the Registrar-General evolved the following social classi?cation, which has now been in o?cial use for many years:

Class I Professional occupations, such as lawyers, clergymen, and commissioned o?cers in the Armed Forces.

Class II Intermediate occupations, such as teachers, managers and nurses.

Class III N: non-manual – for example, clerical workers.

Class III M: skilled manual occupations such as miners and bricklayers.

Class IV Partly skilled occupations, such as agricultural workers.

Class V Unskilled occupations, such as building and dock labourers.... social classes

A method of classifying cancers to determine how far they have spread. This helps doctors to determine the best course of treatment and the prognosis; it is also useful in research. Originally de?ned by the American Joint Committee on Cancer, the T applies to the primary tumour, the N to any lymph-node involvement, and the M to any metastatic spread. (See CANCER; METASTASIS; TUMOUR; LYMPH NODES.)... tnm classification

a widely used classification for grading patients’ fitness for surgery prior to the operation. It was developed by the American Society of Anesthesia (ASA), but is now used worldwide. Patients are assigned grades between 1 and 6.... asa classification

a classification of the *Streptococcus bacteria based on the presence or absence of antigenic carbohydrate on the cell surface. Species are classified into the groups A–S. Most species causing disease in humans belong to groups A, B, and D. [R. C. Lancefield (1895–1981), US bacteriologist]... lancefield classification

a classification of fractures involving the *maxilla (upper jaw) and *orbit. Type I involves the maxilla only, type II the anterior orbit, and type III the posterior orbit. [R. Le Fort (19th century), French surgeon]... le fort classification

(S–H classification) a classification of fractures involving the growth plate of bones (see physis), which is useful for their prognosis and treatment. There are five S–H categories of fracture. [R. Salter and R. I. Harris (20th century), Canadian orthopaedic surgeons]... salter–harris classification

a system for classifying renal cysts seen on CT imaging to aid in determining their degree of malignancy.

Type I: a benign cyst with smooth margins and no calcification or septa that does not enhance with contrast material.

Type II: a benign cyst with a few hairline septa and/or minimal calcification that does not enhance with contrast.

Type IIF: a cyst with more septa and increased calcification but no contrast enhancement.

Type III: a complicated cyst with irregular margins, moderate calcification, thick septa, and contrast enhancement.

Type IV: a malignant cyst with irregular margins and solid enhancing elements.... bosniak classification

(ICD) a list of all known diseases and syndromes, including mental and behavioural disorders, published by the *World Health Organization every ten years (approximately). Over the years the classification has moved from being disease-orientated to include a wider framework of illness and other health problems. The version in current use, ICD-10, was published in 1992 and employs alphanumeric coding. It is used in many countries as the principal means of classifying both mortality and morbidity experience and allows comparison of morbidity and mortality rates nationally and internationally. The clinical utility of the ICD is a matter of some controversy, especially in the field of psychiatry. ICD-11 was published in June 2018 and is intended to come into use from 2022. It includes about 55,000 codes for injuries, diseases, and causes of death, which is three times more than its predecessor. It also differs substantially from ICD-10 as each disease entry includes descriptions and guidance as to what is covered by the term, rather than the term alone. For the first time it includes specific sections on sexual health and traditional medicine. A parallel list, the International Classification of Functioning, Disabilities and Health (ICF), has also been compiled and is being used alongside the ICD. See also handicap.

The standard international classification for statistical, administrative, and epidemiological purposes, as supplied by the World Health Organization

The WHO framework for measuring health and disability in individuals and populations... international classification of diseases

(NS-SEC) an occupational classification of the national population that was developed to replace older systems based on social classes and socio-economic groups. The groupings are intended to stratify the population according to different forms of employment: households are classified according to the occupation of the household reference person (the person renting, owning, or otherwise responsible for accommodation). The NS-SEC is used for official surveys and statistics, including the *census. The analytic version of the classification has eight classes and is the version used for most analyses.... national statistics socio-economic classification

see Salter–Harris classification.... s–h classification

see National Statistics Socio-economic Classification.... social class

a classification defined by the *UICC for the extent of spread of a cancer. T refers to the size of the tumour, N the presence and extent of lymph node involvement, and M the presence of distant spread (metastasis).... tnm classification