The application of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases to neurology: ICD-10 NA

Rapid advances in the clinical neurosciences in the last decade have led to considerable amplification of our ability to classify neurological disease s. For these classifications to be widely used, they must be compatible wit h the 'International Statistical Classification of Diseases and related hea lth problems' (ICD) of the World Health Organization (WHO), which system is used throughout the world for classification of diseases and reasons of de ath. The 'Ninth' revision of the ICD (ICD-9), published in 1976, is current ly in use in a number of Member States of the World Health Organization, in cluding the United States. However, it is expected that by the end of this decade virtually all Member States will have introduced the 10th Revision o f the ICD (ICD-10), published in 1992, An 'Application of ICD-10 to neurolo gy' (ICD-10 NA) has been developed, with a specific coding system for virtu ally every neurological disease currently recognized. This article describe s the structure and background of this work, that is offered as a definitiv e international classification of neurological disease to be used by clinic al and research organizations, governmental and nongovernmental bodies, and for epidemiological and research purposes. It is concordant with the new a nd proposed classifications of subspecialty neurological organizations. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.