Use of the ICD-10 classification in psychiatry: An international survey

On the background of some years of experience with ICD-10 psychiatric diagn oses in many countries of the world, an international comparison was perfor med to evaluate the frequency and use of the ICD-10 psychiatric diagnoses. For future revision of the ICD-10, it is important to know which diagnostic categories are either not used or are used possibly in an unspecific manne r, Nineteen departments of psychiatry in 10 different countries took part i n the study, presenting data on 33,857 treatment cases leading to a total o f 25,470 ICD-10 main diagnoses, The analysis of data reveals that on a four -character level (Fxx.x), the 10 most often used diagnostic categories repr esent 40% of all main diagnoses, and 70% on a th ree-character level (Fxx.- ). There are 32 specific diagnostic categories on a four-character level wh ich are not used at all and 121 which are used less frequently than 0.1% in inpatient and outpatient treatment. The study shows that the ICD-10 classi fication is in use in a variety of treatment settings worldwide. Further re sults and limitations of this study are discussed against the background of transcultural differences. Copyright (C) 2000 S.Karger AG, Basel.