Explain ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes in English — explain_code • icd: Comorbidities and tools for ICD codes

Converts a vector of ICD codes to a vector of descriptions of these codes. The conversion is based on the edition (ICD-9 or ICD-10), and class (e.g., icd10who) of the input vector. See examples.

explain_code(...)

explain_icd(...)

# S3 method for default
explain_code(
  x,
  short_code = guess_short(x),
  condense = TRUE,
  brief = FALSE,
  warn = TRUE,
  ...
)

# S3 method for list
explain_code(x, ...)

# S3 method for icd9
explain_code(...)

# S3 method for icd9cm
explain_code(
  x,
  short_code = guess_short(x),
  condense = TRUE,
  brief = FALSE,
  warn = TRUE,
  ...
)

# S3 method for icd10cm
explain_code(
  x,
  short_code = guess_short(x),
  condense = TRUE,
  brief = FALSE,
  warn = TRUE,
  ...
)

# S3 method for icd10who
explain_code(
  x,
  short_code = guess_short(x),
  condense = TRUE,
  brief = NULL,
  warn = TRUE,
  lang = c("en", "fr"),
  ...
)

# S3 method for icd10fr
explain_code(x, ...)

# S3 method for icd10be
explain_code(x, lang = c("fr", "nl", "en"), ...)

# S3 method for icd10
explain_code(
  x,
  short_code = guess_short(x),
  condense = TRUE,
  brief = FALSE,
  warn = TRUE,
  ...
)

Arguments

...	arguments passed on to other functions
x	vector or other structure of ICD codes to explain in human language
short_code	single logical value which determines whether the ICD-9 code provided is in short (`TRUE`) or decimal (`FALSE`) form. Where reasonable, this is guessed from the input data.
condense	single logical value which indicates whether to condense the given set of ICD-9 codes by replacing subsets of codes with 'parent' codes which exactly encompass certain subsets. E.g. If all cholera diagnoses are provided, only '001 - Cholera' needs to be displayed, not all sub-types.
brief	single logical value, default is `FALSE`. If `TRUE`, the short description from the canonical CMS descriptions will be used, otherwise the long description is used.
warn	single logical value, default is `TRUE`, meaning that codes which do not correspond to diagnoses, or to three-digit codes, will trigger a warning.
lang	For WHO ICD-10 codes, the 2016 English and 2008 French translations are available. Use `en` or `fr` respectively. For ICD-10-CM codes, Dutch is also available, indicated by `nl`.

Value

data frame, or list of data frames, with fields for ICD-9 code, name and description. There is no guarantee on the order of the returned descriptions. explain_table is designed to provide results in a reliable order (when not condensing codes, at least).

Details

explain_icd is a synonym for explain_code.

Methods (by class)

default: Explain ICD codes from a character vector, guessing ICD version
list: Explain all ICD-9 codes in a list of vectors
icd9: explain character vector of ICD-9 codes.
icd9cm: explain character vector of ICD-9-CM codes
icd10cm: ICD-10-CM explanation, current a minimal implementation
icd10who: WHO ICD-10 explanation in French or English
icd10fr: ICD-10-FR explanation, initial implementation, subject to change
icd10be: ICD-10-BE explanation, initial implementation, subject to change
icd10: ICD-10 explanation, falls back on ICD-10-CM until ICD-10 WHO copyright workaround is available

Examples

# by default, just show parent code and ignore children (428.0 not shown
# because 428 is present):
explain_code(icd9_map_ahrq$CHF[1:3])
#> [1] "Rheumatic heart failure (congestive)"                   
#> [2] "Malignant hypertensive heart disease with heart failure"
#> [3] "Benign hypertensive heart disease with heart failure"   
# same without condensing the list. In this case, 428.0 is shown:
explain_code(icd9_map_ahrq$CHF[1:3], brief = TRUE)
#> [1] "Rheumatic heart failure" "Mal hypert hrt dis w hf"
#> [3] "Benign hyp ht dis w hf" 
# The first three in the ICD-10 equivalent are a little different:
explain_code(icd10_map_ahrq$CHF[1:3], brief = TRUE)
#> [1] "Rheumatic heart failure"                        
#> [2] "Left ventricular failure, unspecified"          
#> [3] "Unspecified systolic (congestive) heart failure"
if (FALSE) {
# these may need to download the WHO data first:
explain_code(as.icd10who("B219"), lang = "fr")
explain_code(as.icd10who("B219"))
}
if (FALSE) {
# Belgian ICD-10 has three languages available
explain_code(as.icd10be("C20"))
# [1] "Malignant neoplasm of rectum"
explain_code(as.icd10be("C20"), lang = "en")
# [1] "Malignant neoplasm of rectum"
explain_code(as.icd10be("C20"), lang = "fr")
# [1] "néoplasme malin du rectum"
explain_code(as.icd10be("C20"), lang = "nl")
# [1] "maligne neoplasma van het rectum"
}