SIP is delighted to announce the launch of its Position Paper on the International Classification of Diseases – 11th Revision (ICD-11).
In Europe, there are approximately 740 million people, most of whom experience an episode of severe pain at some point in their life. For approximately 20 percent, that pain is chronic pain. This means that, at present, 150 million people are experiencing pain across Europe, approximately equal to the population of France and Germany combined. This situation is exacerbated by the inconsistent approach in classifying symptoms of chronic pain that would allow more accurate data to be collected.
The inclusion of pain as a disease under the World Health Organization (WHO) 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) is a key development, which came into effect in 2022. It will facilitate the recording and reporting of pain diagnoses in a standardised format. In its response to the European Commission’s Health Data Space Roadmap, SIP called for the implementation of the ICD-11 definition of pain throughout healthcare systems, to improve analysis of health systems performance, and to provide the research community with data to facilitate further clinical research.
The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is the international standard diagnostic tool for epidemiology, health management, research, and clinical purposes, as well as the international standard for reporting diseases and health conditions. It is updated at regular intervals to reflect the current state of health knowledge. Experts, international societies for the medical areas and professions, patients, and their organizations, are brought together by the World Health Organization (WHO) to revise the ICD, which allows for:
- Recording individual health conditions at the desired level of detail. This is why it is used in many health systems to diagnose conditions and determine which treatment is received.
- Generating healthcare statistics and reimbursement information.
- Sharing and comparing health information between hospitals, regions, settings, and countries.
- Comparing data in the same country across different time periods.
Find out more about SIP’s position on ICD-11 and its relevance for the pain community here.