Index of Dermatological Diagnoses

In medical and epidemiological research it is essential to retrieve data on distinct diagnoses with a high grade of specificity and reliability. Furthermore, to compare epidemiological research results, a standardization of codes and items for specified disease entities is needed.
The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) represents the standard classification most frequently used in epidemiological research and public health issues. Due to the large field of general disorders covered by the current version, ICD-10 (10th revision [1]), many dermatological terms are lacking in this official WHO-classification. In the dermatology chapter of ICD-10, distinct diagnoses are quite often classified under a rather crude denominator. In addition, many important terms used by dermatologists are completely missing. As a consequence ICD-10 codes do not sufficiently fulfill the fundamental requirements for documentation of dermatological diagnoses for statistical and scientific purposes.

In 1992, the German working group "Dermatologischer Diagnosen-katalog" (DDK) published a first index on the majority of dermatological diagnoses with an extended ICD-9 compatible coding system. In the 3rd edition we adjusted this register to ICD-10 codes by adding two further digits to the official four digit codes [2]. As a result, the full code may be used to record diagnoses for research purpose and the original ICD code (first four digits) for official purposes.

Since 1998, a collaboration group between members of the German Dermatological Society (DDG) and the British Association of Dermatologists (BAD) is working on a standardized index of diagnostic terms in dermatology.  The BAD index was commissioned by the British Association of Dermatologists in response to a widely perceived need for a comprehensive and logically structured index of diagnoses for use by British dermatologists. It was originally developed during 1992-1994 under the guidance of a Steering Committee with the help of numerous members of the Association from all parts of the United Kingdom, with a wide range of interests and seniority. The project was encouraged by and supported by a financial grant from the NHS Management Executive. Since its original publication in 1994 it has undergone minor revision annually. In 1998. however, a comprehensive revalidation exercise was undertaken, again with the help of a large number of Association members.