Formalizzazione ontologica di terminologie e sistemi di classificazione in ambito biomedico: il caso ICPC2-ICD10

Medical coding systems and terminologies provide an important instrument for authoring digital health records (EHRs). Their use to codify health related concepts in EHRs improves the accessibility, exchange, and analysis of medical data. Most of these systems are clinically mapped between them, however there is no clear formal reference stabilizing the precise meaning of mappings between these systems. Furthermore, the interpretation of all clinical mappings cannot be done. As such, the formal encoding and analysis of these classification systems and their mappings is an important prerequisite for their correct integration. In this paper we analyze two important international coding systems used in European countries in the practice of primary care: the International Classification of Primary Care 2nd edition (ICPC2) and the International Classification of Diseases 10th release (ICD10). The proposed approach is focused on their formalization into lightweight OWL ontologies, on the encoding of specified mappings between them as inter-ontology axioms, and the application of logical reasoning to identify clusters of clinical mappings holding similar meaning, and to analyze mapping consistencies.