Impact of ICD-11 Inclusion of TCM Codes on the Global Burden of Disease

Abstract

Burden of disease measurement based on the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) codes have been widely used worldwide. However, most of the current studies are based on Western medical codes of ICD. As the internationalization of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) , the inclusion of TCM codes in ICD-11 will facilitate the improvement of TCM disease diagnosis, the calculation of prevalence, survival, medication use, and treatment levels of TCM disease, which can further evaluate the disease burden of TCM diseases, promote medical decision making and rational allocation of health resources, thus further promoting the internationalization of TCM. However, the imperfection of TCM codes in ICD-11 and inadequate mapping between it and Western medicine codes, our national standards for TCM has also brought new challenges to the measurement of TCM disease burden. Based on the coding system of disease burden, this paper reviewed the deficiencies in the current research on the calculation of disease burden of TCM, and the impact of ICD-11 inclusion of TCM codes on the calculation of disease burden of TCM, made a preliminary comparison among the TCM codes and Western medical codes in ICD-11 and new national standard codes in China, to provide reference for the improvement of the calculation and coding of TCM disease burden. It is proposed that in the future, big data technologies can be used to facilitate the mapping between standardized TCM terms and ICD-11 TCM codes, ICD-11 TCM codes and Western medical codes, thus facilitating research on the burden of disease in TCM.

Keywords

• global burden of disease|traditional chinese medicine and pharmacy|icd-11|medical coding|tcm codes