Update on NHS Digital’s request for addition of SEID to SNOMED CT terminology system

August 1, 2020 by

Post #359 Shortlink: https://wp.me/pKrrB-58W

Update on NHS Digital’s request for addition of Systemic exertion intolerance disease (SEID) to SNOMED CT terminology system

In February 2015, a panel convened by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), now the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), published a report on ME, CFS called “Beyond Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Redefining an Illness.”[1]

The panel undertook an evidence review and formulated recommendations which had included proposals for new diagnostic criteria and the suggestion of the name “Systemic exertion intolerance disease (SEID)”, as part of a number of recommendations put forward for review and consideration by the Report’s sponsor agencies.

Five years on:

  • The CDC has not adopted the term “Systemic exertion intolerance disease (SEID)”. In preference, the CDC uses “ME/CFS” on its website clinical information pages and for its Continuing Medical Education (CME) activities.
  • The NCHS-CDC have not added the SEID term to ICD-10-CM, an adaptation of the WHO’s ICD-10, that is mandatory in the US for assigning diagnostic codes for medical billing and reimbursement.
  • The SEID term has not been added to the final update of the WHO’s international edition of ICD-10 (Version: 2019).
  • The SEID term has not been added to the SNOMED CT US Edition by its managers, the National Library of Medicine (NML), either as a new Concept code, or as a Synonym or Child term.
  • The IOM panel’s Report formed part of the literature review for the revision of the ICD-10 G93.3 legacy categories. The WHO and the ICD-11 CSAC and MSAC committees have not included the SEID term in ICD-11.
  • The IOM panel’s suggested case definition has not been subject to field testing by, or on behalf of the CDC. Several studies published since the Report’s release concluded that the proposed SEID case definition lacks reliability and specificity; discussed the unintended consequences of not specifying exclusionary illnesses; and noted the lack of acceptability to patients of the proposed case definition and proposed SEID nomenclature.

A couple of minutes on Google demonstrates that some websites providing clinical information to physicians, healthcare professionals and patients are referring to “Systemic exertion intolerance disease” as though the term had been tested, evaluated and adopted by US federal agencies — when this is not the case.

In the March 2020 issue of the ME Global Chronicle, I reported on a request submitted by NHS Digital in November 2019 for addition of the “Systemic exertion intolerance disease (SEID)” term to the SNOMED CT terminology system.

SNOMED CT is used in over 30 countries and is the recommended terminology system in the UK, US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia [2].

For NHS England, SNOMED CT UK Edition is the mandatory terminology system across all primary and secondary healthcare settings. The system is used by clinicians in electronic medical records (EMRs), at the point of care, to record findings, symptoms, diagnoses, interventions, procedures etc.

The UK Edition of SNOMED CT terminology system is managed by NHS Digital [3].

Authorized users can register to submit requests for changes or additions to the terminology system via an NHS Digital submission portal. Requests that meet criteria for potential addition to the SNOMED CT International Edition are referred on for consideration by SNOMED International’s terminology specialists.

Submission #30104 (November 30, 2019) requested addition of the term “Systemic exertion  intolerance disease” as a Synonym under the existing SNOMED CT Concept: 52702003 Chronic fatigue syndrome [4].

The request appeared to originate from within the NHS (or other authorized SNOMED CT user) as no other class of stakeholder is referenced as the original requester.

The rationale text in support of request #30104 can be read on the NHS Digital Request Submission Portal, here: http://bit.ly/39Pz4vy

After drawing attention to this request on Twitter, I was contacted in March by a senior member of SNOMED International’s team.

I was advised that request #30104 had been submitted for consideration for addition to the SNOMED CT International Edition; that the request had already been processed and pending any further changes, would be implemented in the International Edition’s July release.

(Note: If the term “Systemic exertion intolerance disease (SEID)” was approved for addition to the July 2020 International Edition, the term would then be absorbed into the various national editions when they released their next updates.)

As the IOM panel’s proposed case definition and suggested term have not undergone field testing and evaluation; as the SEID term has not been adopted by US federal agencies; and as NCHS-CDC has made no decision to assign a code for SEID in the US ICD-10-CM for medical billing and reimbursement, it would be premature to approve a request for addition to the SNOMED CT International Edition.

These concerns for the potential addition of an untested, unadopted term to the SNOMED CT system were passed back to SNOMED International’s terminology specialists for their consideration.

In early June, I was informed that the terminology team had reviewed the information provided and concluded that adding “Systemic exertion intolerance disease” as a synonym is premature; that approval of this request had been retracted and SEID would not be included in the July release.

This was further confirmed on a SNOMED CT internal production page (see last entry under heading: “Concepts to be removed completely from the Alpha release content”): https://bit.ly/2Xed60V

The July 2020 release of the International Edition was published on July 31: https://bit.ly/39HA1a2

I can confirm that the two Synonyms terms that had been added under 52702003 Chronic fatigue syndrome for the Alpha production release:

● 3902795018 – SEID – systemic exertion intolerance disease
● 3902796017 – Systemic exertion intolerance disease

have been removed for the finalised July 2020 release*.

*In the event of a request for a change or addition to SNOMED CT not being accepted there is a formal appeals process and the submitter may request a further review of the decision. SNOMED International has confirmed that NHS Digital has not appealed against the decision not to add SEID to the finalised July 2020 release.

An abridged version of this post can be downloaded in PDF format here: https://bit.ly/2XeeS2e

References:

1 Committee on the Diagnostic Criteria for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome; Board on the Health of Select Populations; Institute of Medicine. Beyond Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Redefining an Illness. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); Feb 2015. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25695122

2 SNOMED CT International Edition browser and browsers for 14 national editions: https://browser.ihtsdotools.org/

3 NHS Digital SNOMED CT browser: http://bit.ly/38OqL1R

4 NHS Digital SNOMED CT Submission Portal: Request 30104:
https://isd.hscic.gov.uk/rsp-snomed/user/guest/request/view.jsf?request_id=30104

About SNOMED CT:

Clinical classifications like ICD-10 and the SNOMED CT terminology system are complementary and serve different purposes. ICD-10 is used after the event by clinicians and coders and focuses on diagnostic coding and data recording for statistical and epidemiological analysis, reimbursement and  resource allocation.

SNOMED CT is used by clinicians in electronic medical records (EMRs), at the point of care, to record findings, symptoms, diagnoses, interventions, procedures etc.

Each clinical concept or phrase is assigned a unique SCTID code to provide a standardised, machine readable terminology for recording and sharing clinical information across multiple health care settings. SCTID codes are mapped to ICD-10 and to ICPC-2e codes for interoperability.

SNOMED CT is considered to be the most comprehensive, multilingual healthcare terminology in the world. It is used in over 30 countries and is the recommended terminology system in the UK, US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

SNOMED CT International Edition releases two updates a year. A number of countries maintain national editions which automatically incorporate the updated content from the core SNOMED CT International releases but may also include country specific terminology. The national editions release twice yearly updates on a staggered schedule and their current content may not reflect the changes and additions to the most recent release of the International Edition.

SNOMED CT does not regulate which concepts should or should not be used in clinical records, but makes concepts available in response to requests from stakeholders and in accordance with its editorial and content development principles [1].

Since April 2018, SNOMED CT UK Edition [2] has been the mandatory terminology system for use in NHS primary care, replacing the Read Code (CTV3) terminology system which is now retired. SNOMED CT UK Edition was scheduled for adoption across all clinical, secondary care and mental health settings from April 2020.

Browsers for the SNOMED CT International Edition and the national editions for Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden, US and a number of other countries can be accessed here:

SNOMED International SNOMED CT Browser: http://browser.ihtsdotools.org/

1 SNOMED CT International Release Content Development:
https://confluence.ihtsdotools.org/display/DOCSTART/9.+Content+Development

2 The SNOMED CT UK Edition is managed by NHS Digital, as the designated UK National Release Centre. A public browser can be accessed here: https://termbrowser.nhs.uk/

Filed under CFS, Chronic fatigue syndrome, ICD-10, Institute of Medicine (IOM), Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), NHS, NHS Digital, SNOMED CT, Snomed International, Systemic exertion intolerance disease (SEID), Terminology systems Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

Update on the removal of “neurasthenie” from SNOMED CT Netherlands Edition

April 13, 2019 by

Post #348 Shortlink: https://wp.me/pKrrB-4N6

As reported in Post # 345, the SNOMED CT Concept SCTID: 192439005 Neurasthenia (disorder) and its associated SCTID Concept terms were retired (Inactivated) from SNOMED CT’s International Edition and from national editions some years ago.

However, the Netherlands Edition retained the term neurasthenie under the SCTID: 52702003 chronischevermoeidheidssyndroom (CVS) Synonyms list. The neurasthenie term was exclusive to the Netherlands Edition, was assigned to the SCTID: 52702003 CVS code, and designated as an “Acceptable” Synonym term for CVS in the Netherlands Dutch language reference set.

 

Screenshot: SNOMED CT Netherlands Edition release for September 30, 2018:

 

Screenshot: SNOMED CT Netherlands Edition release for September 30, 2018:

Details tab:

 

Request for removal of the neurasthenie term:

In October 2018, a Netherlands advocate approached Pim Volkert (Terminology Co-ordinator, Nictiz, and lead for the Netherlands SNOMED CT National Release Centre) with a request and rationale for consideration of removal of the neurasthenie term, for consistency with SNOMED CT International Edition and with the WHO’s ICD-10, which specifically excludes G93.3 from F48.0 Neurasthenia.

This request and accompanying rationale was considered and promptly accepted for implementation in the March 31, 2019 release of the Netherlands Edition.

This approved content change has now been incorporated into the March 2019 release:

 

Screenshot: SNOMED CT Netherlands Edition as it now stands:

 

 

A note about retired SCTID Concept terms and retired Synonyms in SNOMED CT International Edition and national editions:

The technical term for the retirement of a SNOMED CT SCTID Concept or Synonym term is “Inactivation”. In order to display Inactive concepts, go to:

https://browser.ihtsdotools.org/?

Accept the License Agreement, if displayed.

Select the specific edition required (eg the International Edition or one of the National Editions).

Look under Options on the left of the Search box.

Select:

“Status: Active and inactive concepts” from the Options dropdown.

Enter a search term into the Search box.

In the Matches list, Inactive concepts will display on a light pink ground.

Click on a term to display the historical Concept Details panel associated with that specific term (which will also display on a pink ground in the box under Parents in the Concept Details panel).

So although retired or “Inactive” terms can still be searched for within the SNOMED CT terminology browser, they are identified as Inactive by their pink ground.

Filed under Chronic fatigue syndrome, coding, Disorder of nervous system, Myalgic encephalomyelitis, Nervous system disease, Neurasthenia, neurological disorder, SNOMED CT, SNOMED CT Netherlands Edition, WHO (World Health Organization) Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

Update to addition of Disorder of nervous system parent for Chronic fatigue syndrome and terms under Synonyms in SNOMED CT

October 5, 2018 by

Post #345 Shortlink: https://wp.me/pKrrB-4uk

In Post #342 (August 1, 2018), I confirmed that the addition of parent: Disorder of nervous system to Chronic fatigue syndrome was implemented for the July 31, 2018 release of the SNOMED CT International Edition.

The SNOMED CT Concept term for Chronic fatigue syndrome is SCTID 52702003 Chronic fatigue syndrome (disorder). Benign myalgic encephalomyelitis; and Myalgic encephalomyelitis are included in a list of terms under Synonyms.

SCTID: 52702003 Chronic fatigue syndrome (disorder) and the terms listed under Synonyms are now located under supertype SCTID: 118940003 Disorder of nervous system (disorder). This change to the International Edition is being incorporated into the national editions, as they release their next updates. These are released on a staggered schedule.

The rationale for requesting this additional supertype for Chronic fatigue syndrome and the terms listed under Synonyms is set out in this August 2018 document:

PDF: Statement on SNOMED CT and Chronic fatigue syndrome

Note that prior to July 2015, Postviral fatigue syndrome had been listed under Children to SCTID: 52702003 Chronic fatigue syndrome.

But for the July 2015 release, Postviral fatigue syndrome was removed from under SCTID: 52702003 Chronic fatigue syndrome and relocated under supertype: Post-viral disorder under: Post-infectious disorder and assigned the Concept code: SCTID: 51771007.

(A change that had not been requested by the Countess of Mar during her 2014-2015 engagement with SNOMED CT terminology managers for the removal of the Mental disorder parent. Provision of the rationale for relocating Postviral fatigue syndrome was not pursued by Forward-ME.)

Incorporation of addition of supertype Disorder of nervous system into national editions

SNOMED CT U.S. Edition incorporated the change for its September 01, 2018 release:

 

SNOMED CT Belgium Edition incorporated the change for its September 15, 2018 release:

 

SNOMED CT Danish Edition incorporated the change for its September 30, 2018 release:

 

SNOMED CT Netherlands Edition incorporated the change for its September 30, 2018 release:

Note on inclusion of “neurasthenie” in the Netherlands Edition: SNOMED CT International Edition and national editions used to include a Concept term SCTID: 192439005 Neurasthenia. This Concept was retired (Inactivated) a number of years ago. However, the Netherlands Edition retained the term “neurasthenie” under the list of Synonym terms. “Neurasthenie” is designated as an “Acceptable” term in the Netherlands Dutch language reference set (open “Details” tab to view Netherlands reference sets).

Details tab:

A Netherlands advocate has contacted Pim Volkert (Terminology Co-ordinator, Nictiz, and lead for the Netherlands SNOMED CT National Release Centre) with a request and rationales for consideration of the removal of the “neurasthenie” term, for consistency with the SNOMED CT International Edition and with the WHO’s ICD-10, which has an exclusion for G93.3 under F48.0 Neurasthenia. This request has been considered and accepted. I am advised that removal of the “neurasthenie” term is anticipated to be implemented for the March 2019 release of the Netherlands Edition.

 

SNOMED CT UK Edition incorporated the change for its October 01, 2018 release:

(Public browser hosted by NHS Digital. Browser can also be accessed from the landing page of the SNOMED CT International browser platform.)

Note: the UK Edition has three severity specifier options listed under “Children” that are specific to the UK Edition.

These are assigned the discrete codes: SCTID: 377181000000104 Mild chronic fatigue syndrome; SCTID: 377171000000101 Moderate chronic fatigue syndrome; and SCTID: 377161000000108 Severe chronic fatigue syndrome.

It has yet to be established from NHS Digital in which year these severity specifier options were added to the UK Edition, to what extent they are used, and by what means clinicians would determine which of the severities to apply.

The UK Edition includes the terms Myalgic encephalitis and Myalgic encephalopathy.

 

Updated to add screenshot of Canadian Edition

SNOMED CT Canadian Edition incorporated the change for its October 30, 2018 release:

 

Updated to add screenshot of Swedish Edition

SNOMED CT Swedish Edition incorporated the change for its November 30, 2018 release:

Note: the Swedish Edition includes a separately coded for Concept term:

SCTID: 55941000052101 | kronisk trötthet | [Chronic fatigue (finding)].

This is marked with the Swedish flag symbol to denote that this SNOMED CT Concept term is exclusive to the Swedish Edition. It can be viewed here:

 

Updated to add screenshot of Argentinian Edition

SNOMED CT Argentinian Edition incorporated the change for its November 30, 2018 release:

 

Updated to add screenshot of Australian Edition

The January 31, 2019 release of the Australian Edition has incorporated the change:

 

If your country is a member of SNOMED International but does not have a publicly accessible browser hosted on the International Edition platform or hosted on its own platform, please refer to your country’s SNOMED CT National Release Centre website for the release schedule.

Media:

GP system updated to reflect M.E. as neurological, Action for M.E., August 01, 2018

NHS to update classification system to reflect that M.E. is neurological disease, ME Association, August 06, 2018

Filed under Chronic fatigue syndrome, Disorder of nervous system, Forward-ME, ICD-11, ICD-11 MMS 2018, Myalgic encephalomyelitis, Nervous system disease, neurological disorder, SNOMED CT, WHO (World Health Organization) Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

Chronic fatigue syndrome classified under Neurological disorder in SNOMED CT International Edition

August 1, 2018 by

Post #342 Shortlink: https://wp.me/pKrrB-4pK

SNOMED CT is a standardized electronic terminology system for recording and sharing symptoms, diagnoses, clinical findings, procedures etc. in primary and secondary care and across other health care settings.

Since April 2018, SNOMED CT UK Edition has been the mandatory terminology system for use in NHS primary care, replacing the Read Code (CTV3) terminology which is now retired. SNOMED CT UK Edition is scheduled for adoption across all NHS clinical settings by 2020.

In SNOMED CT terminology system, disease and disorder terms are not arranged in chapters, as they are in ICD-10 and ICD-11. Instead, terms are arranged within a hierarchical relationship of parent and children concepts (or supertypes and subtypes).

The SNOMED CT Concept term for Chronic fatigue syndrome is SCTID 52702003 Chronic fatigue syndrome (disorder). Benign myalgic encephalomyelitis; and Myalgic encephalomyelitis are included as Synonym terms.

Chronic fatigue syndrome has historically been located under the Parent Concept: Multisystem disorder.

Multisystem disorder Parent retired for January 2018 release

In 2017, SNOMED CT terminology managers decided that the Multisystem disorder concept term was not sufficiently specific for the purposes of their system and the term was inactivated (retired) for the January 2018 release.

There had been 90 Children terms under SCTID: 281867008 Multisystem disorder (disorder) and the retirement of this parent concept had implications for all of these 90 terms — not just for Chronic fatigue syndrome and its Synonym terms.

Many of these 90 Children terms were assigned under a more specific parent but a few, including Chronic fatigue syndrome, had no new parent assigned to them.

This presented an opportunity to request a more specific parent for Chronic fatigue syndrome.

In February 2018, a formal request and rationale for adding the supertype: Disorder of nervous system was submitted.

Chronic fatigue syndrome classified under Neurological disorder for July 2018 release

Following a peer review process, the addition of the parent: Disorder of nervous system for Chronic fatigue syndrome was provisionally approved for implementation in the next release, which has been finalized and published.

SCTID: 52702003 Chronic fatigue syndrome (disorder) is now classified under supertype SCTID: 118940003 Disorder of nervous system (disorder) in the July 2018 release of the SNOMED CT International Edition.

This change will be incorporated into the next update of the U.S. Edition (in September 2018), the UK Edition (in October 2018) and other National Editions, as they release their next updates.

Download a copy of the full report

PDF: Statement on SNOMED CT and Chronic fatigue syndrome

 

SNOMED CT International Edition Release for July 2018 (v20180731) was published on the public SNOMED CT browser on July 31, 2018

Media:

GP system updated to reflect M.E. as neurological, Action for M.E., August 01, 2018

NHS to update classification system to reflect that M.E. is neurological disease, ME Association, August 06, 2018

Filed under Chronic fatigue syndrome, Disorder of nervous system, Forward-ME, ICD-11, ICD-11 MMS 2018, Myalgic encephalomyelitis, Nervous system disease, neurological disorder, SNOMED CT, WHO (World Health Organization) Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

Update on SNOMED CT and Bodily distress disorder

August 1, 2018 by

Post #341 Shortlink: https://wp.me/pKrrB-4pG

Update on SNOMED CT terminology system and inclusion of Bodily distress disorder

The July 2017 Release for SNOMED CT International Edition included an undefined Bodily distress disorder term, assigned as a subtype under Parent: Functional disorder.

SNOMED CT does not regulate which concepts should or should not be used in clinical records, but makes concepts available within its system in response to submissions for potential inclusion.

It was possible that the World Health Organization (WHO) had requested the addition of the Bodily distress disorder term for alignment between SNOMED CT and new ICD-11 concept terms [1].

But given the concerns about Bodily distress disorder (BDD) and Bodily distress syndrome (BDS), it was important to establish what the SNOMED International terminology managers understood by the term “BDD” and to also establish who had submitted the request for its addition.

Download a copy of the full update

PDF: Statement on SNOMED CT and Bodily distress disorder

1 Bodily distress disorder, ICD-11 MMS Release June 2018

2 SNOMED CT International Edition Release for July 2018 was published on the public SNOMED CT browser on July 31, 2018

Filed under Bodily distress disorder, Bodily distress syndrome, Forward-ME, Functional disorder, ICD-11, ICD-11 MMS 2018, Myalgic encephalomyelitis, Per Fink, SNOMED CT, WHO (World Health Organization) Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

Comparison of Classification and Terminology Systems

July 30, 2018 by

Post #340 Shortlink: https://wp.me/pKrrB-4oG

We continue to see some confusion amongst ME and CFS patients, advocates and commentators around classification systems — what they are used for, whether they are mandatory for WHO member states, which terms are included in which systems and which countries use which versions.

In May, Suzy Chapman (DxRevisionWatch.com) and Mary Dimmock prepared a document to assist stakeholders in navigating the complexities of the disease classification and terminology systems.

 

Comparison of Classification and Terminology Systems

The purpose of this document is to summarize the key classification and terminology systems that are used internationally to capture information about disorders and diseases for the purposes of global mortality and morbidity tracking. These systems are also used for medical records, including EMRs (electronic medical records), in primary and secondary care.

Thumbnail

The most recent version of this document can be downloaded here Version 3 | July 2018

 

Document revision history:

Comparison of Classification and Terminology Systems Version 1

May 2018

 

Comparison of Classification and Terminology Systems Version 2

June 2018 – Updated to reflect release of an advance preview version of ICD-11 on June 18, 2018.

 

Comparison of Classification and Terminology Systems Version 3

July 2018 – Revised for clarity.

In Versions 1 and 2, we stated that the ICPC-2 Danish extension [1] included the term, Bodily distress syndrome. The document in reference [2] clarifies that whilst not included in the Danish extension, a diagnosis of functional disorder or a diagnosis of bodily distress syndrome can be coded for using the ICPC-2 P75 Somatoform forstyrrelse (Somatoform disorder) term.

1 ICPC-2 Danish extension
2 Funktionelle lidelser (Functional Disorders), Clinical guideline for general practice, Danish College of General Practitioners, 2013 (English translation, 2016). Page 8: What is the patient’s illness called?

 

Filed under American Psychiatric Association (APA), Chronic fatigue syndrome, DSM-5, ICD-10-CM, ICD-11, ICD-11 PHC, ICPC-2, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), SNOMED CT, WHO (World Health Organization) Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

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