Premium
Classification of otitis media
Author(s) -
Harkness Paul,
Topham John
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
the laryngoscope
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.181
H-Index - 148
eISSN - 1531-4995
pISSN - 0023-852X
DOI - 10.1097/00005537-199810000-00021
Subject(s) - otitis , computer science , schema (genetic algorithms) , set (abstract data type) , medicine , presentation (obstetrics) , artificial intelligence , natural language processing , information retrieval , surgery , programming language
Objectives: To review the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) system of classifying otitis media. To highlight the failings of this system and to propose an alternative (Read version 3). Study Design: An historical review of the literature and a presentation of two distinct classification schemes. Methods: The advantages and disadvantages of the alternative schemes are analyzed and an algorithm for the classification of otitis media is presented that describes the decisions taken to reach a diagnosis. Results: The proposed classification of otitis media as used in the Read Codes thesaurus is more logical than the ICD classification. Conclusions: The widely used ICD schema of otitis media fails to provide the otologist or general medical practitioner with a logically organized set of terms to describe inflammatory middle ear disease. This article proposes a simple, hierarchical classification that can be used by specialists, generalists and epidemiologists alike. Laryngoscope , 108:1539–1543, 1998