Classifications have been used to describe diseases over the ages.
Since the seventeenth century, pioneers such as John Graunt, William Farr, Florence Nightingale and Jacques Bertillon attempted to classify diseases systematically.
Subsequently, the World Health Organization (WHO) has been responsible for continued revisions of the Bertillon classification; the current version is the tenth revision of the International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10).
To allow easy storage, retrieval, analysis and compilation of internationally consistent data
Need for classification of diseases
To allow systematic recording, analysis, interpretation and comparisons of mortality and morbidity data between hospitals, provinces or countries
To allow comparisons
- within populations over time and
- between populations at the same point in time
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