User Guide

FROZEN Version  

Information on Frozen Versions

In order to facilitate some of the ICD-11 work such as reviews, field trials, etc. we prepare frozen versions of the classification. You are currently browsing a frozen version.

Please note that some functionality such as login, commenting, version history, notifications, etc. are not available in the frozen versions. Frozen versions are mainly for browsing/searching a specific version of ICD-11. For the additional functionality, please refer to the live ICD-11 browser at
http://apps.who.int/classifications/icd11

Print versions, and many other content of the frozen version are available in one zip file:
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03 Jun 2015

The ICD Foundation Component

Foundation Component is a collection of ALL ICD entities like diseases, disorders... It represents the whole ICD universe.

In a simple way, the foundation component is similar to a “store” of books or songs. From these elements we build a selection as a linearization. This analogy may however be misleading because there are many links between the ICD entities (like parent-child relations and other).

The ICD entities in the Foundation Component:
  1. are not necessarily mutually exclusive
  2. allow multiple parenting ( i. e. an entity may be in more than one branch, for example tuberculosis meningitis is both an infection and a brain disease)

The ICD Linearizations

A linearization is a subset of the foundation component, that is:
  1. Fit for a particular purpose: reporting mortality, morbidity, or other uses
  2. Jointly Exhaustive of ICD Universe (Foundation Component)
  3. Composed of entities that are Mutually Exclusive of each other
  4. Each entity is given a single parent

Linearizations are similar to the classical print versions of ICD Tabular List (e.g. volume I of ICD-10 or other previous editions). Various linearizations could be built at different granularity, use case or other purposes such as for Primary Care, Clinical Care or Research. The linkage from the foundation component to a particular linearization will ensure consistent use of the ICD.

The ICD Entities are represented in a content model which has 13 predefined parameters. The information filled in by ICD authors is visible in the alpha browser.