Treatment effectiveness
Advice on research activities
Studies evaluating measures of treatment effectiveness and side effects in patients should be coded within the 6 Treatment Evaluation code group.
The development of measures of treatment responses can be coded within 5 Treatment Development.
Advice on research activities
The Surgery categories 5.4 Surgery and 6.4 Surgery include invasive mechanical procedures such as angioplasty and catheterisation.
Advice on research activities
Following changes in EU legislation, nutritional and vitamin supplements are treated as pharmaceuticals. Therapeutic studies involving these substances should be coded as 5.1 Pharmaceuticals or 6.1 Pharmaceuticals.
Studies of the preventive effects of nutritional supplements should be coded as 3.3 Nutrition.
Advice on research activities
The coding for stem cell research will depend on the intention and nature of the research.
Basic developmental biology or a study of normal stem cell differentiation should be coded within the 1 Underpinning code group.
Stem cell research involving development, differentiation or transplantation of stem cells directly associated with therapeutic application (one of the main components of Regenerative Medicine) should be coded as 5.2 Cellular and gene therapies or 6.2 Cellular and gene therapies.
e.g. the development of stem cell lines for potential therapeutic studies should be coded as 5.2 Cell therapy.
In general codes for 5.4 Surgery and 6.4 Surgery do not apply to studies of cell therapy transplantation. An exception to this is surgical transplantation of bone marrow stem cells for cancer treatment, which is considered a similar process to organ transplantation, and should therefore should be coded as 5.4 Surgery or 6.4 Surgery.
Advice on health categories
The coding for studies on smoking and tobacco will depend on the nature of the research.
Use Mental Health for studies of tobacco and nicotine addiction and associated behavioural problems.
Only use the following standardised breakdown of health categories and percentages for general studies on smoking and tobacco where there is no other indication of disease area:
| Health Category | Percentage |
| Cancer and neoplasms | 25 |
| Cardiovascular | 25 |
| Respiratory | 25 |
| Stroke | 25 |
Advice on research activities
Smoking is considered a risk factor for other diseases. Therefore, interventions to reduce smoking should be coded as 3 Prevention, even if the person already smokes. Use 5 Treatment Development or 6 Treatment Evaluation for studies focussed on treatment of an existing smoking-related disease and in cases of secondary prevention.
Additional guidance on differentiating secondary and primary prevention and distinguishing between preventative and treatment interventions are also available.
Advice on health categories
If a study is on sexual health but doesn’t specify any particular disease, the research should be coded as 50% Reproductive health and childbirth (for risk of pregnancy) and 50% Infection (for risk of sexually transmitted infections).
Advice on health categories
Research aimed at investigating sequelae of a specific pre-existing disease should be assigned equal percentage weighting to the primary existing condition and to the condition under investigation.
e.g. Cardiovascular disease in diabetic patients should be coded as 50% Cardiovascular and 50% Metabolic and Endocrine.
Studies of the side effects of a disease, where the condition under study is a downstream consequence of an original condition, are treated similarly.
e.g. A study into depression as a result of cancer should be coded 50% Mental Health and 50% Cancer.
e.g. Studies of post natal depression should be coded as 50% Mental Health and 50% Reproduction.
Studies of the direct side effects of a disease treatment are usually coded in the same way.
e.g. A study of bowel injury resulting from radiotherapy for cancer is coded 50% Cancer and 50% Oral and Gastrointestinal.
In some cases, however, it may not be appropriate to code for the pre-existing disease.
e.g. If a particular disease is being used as an exemplar for studying the side effects of a treatment, such as studies of generalisable anti-nausea drugs.
There is also additional guidance available for diseases used as case studies and co-morbidities.
Advice on health categories
Sepsis should be coded 50% Infection and 50% Inflammatory and Immune System. This includes all forms of sepsis. Other codes should only be added in exceptional circumstances (see sequelae).
Advice on research activities
Therapeutic clinical trials in the 6 Treatment Evaluation code group will often include an assessment of quality of life. However the main aim of these studies is usually to evaluate the effect or suitability of the intervention.
Unless one of the primary aims of a trial is investigating quality of life, just code for the therapy under investigation and not also to 7.1 Individual care needs for the quality of life component.
The 7.1 individual care needs code should only be used for research where assessments of quality of life are the main focus of the study.
Advice on health categories
Pulmonary hypertension should be coded as Cardiovascular and not Respiratory.