Study examines ambiguities in ICD coding for respiratory infections

Study examines ambiguities in ICD coding for respiratory infections

Background and goal:TheInternational Classification of Diseases(ICD) system standardizes diagnosis codes worldwide and enables accurate comparisons of health data. This study examined regional differences in the diagnosis of respiratory infections in Poland to identify potential ambiguities in ICD coding and their impact on data comparability.

Study approach:Researchers analyzed over 292 million primary care visits for acute respiratory infections in Poland between 2010 and 2019 using ICD-10 codes (J00-J22). Diagnosis data were grouped by age (children, acquiring-age adults, elders) and analyzed at the district level. Statistical methods and visualizations were used to reveal regional differences in the use of ICD codes. These inconsistencies were further analyzed to determine whether they reflected true differences in diagnoses or systemic issues in code usage.

Main results:

• TThe most problematic code appeared to be “acute upper respiratory tract infection of multiple and unspecified sites” (J06), which was often used interchangeably with other codes, particularly “cold” (J00) and “bronchitis” (J20) (J20)

• Significant differences were observed in how breathing conditions were coded across counties, with no consistent regional patterns explaining these variations. Larger counties showed less variability, likely due to random cancellation of factors.

Why it matters:The variation in physician coding practices requires special attention during analyzes to avoid drawing conclusions about differences that may simply encode variation.

Sources: