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UKCRC Health Research Classification System

Wounds and healing

Advice on health categories

Wounds (including fractures) may result from surgery, disease or trauma / assault.

Only code to Injuries and Accidents if the wounds were a result of accident or injury. Otherwise apply the relevant Health Category if the wound tissue type is specified or Generic Health Relevance if the abstract doesn’t specify a tissue type.

 

Advice on research activities

Basic cellular mechanisms of wound healing are normal function i.e. 1 Underpinning. However investigation of the cause, diagnosis, treatment and management of wound healing should be assigned to the appropriate Research Activity code.

 

Main inclusion criteria

  • Research applicable to all diseases and conditions or to general health and well-being of individuals.
  • Public health research, epidemiology and health services research that is not focused on specific conditions.
  • Underpinning biological, psychosocial, economic or methodological studies that are not specific to individual diseases or conditions.

 

Advice on health categories

There are four main circumstances where the Generic Health Relevance category is most applicable:

  1. Research that is relevant to all diseases and conditions or to general health and well-being.
  2. Any research that cannot be attributed to a particular disease or condition or to normal function of a specific type of cell or system, defined by the top 19 health categories.
  3. If research is judged relevant to more than five Health Categories then these should be substituted for 100% Generic Health Relevance.
  4. As an additional code for studies with a disease(s)/condition(s) of focus which also has relevance to many other diseases/conditions.
    • This final circumstance has considerable scope, so additional guidance is given below.

 

Generic Health Relevance as an additional code

If the main focus of the research is directed at several specified diseases and also has implications for many other conditions, the appropriate specific Health Categories should be used as well as applying the Generic category. (Note that this does not apply to diseases that may be listed within the background information or are noted as ‘being relevant’ to the study under investigation; many awards will reference multiple conditions to provide a context for the research, but always apply coding based on the lifetime of the award – (see the coding guidance on assigning health categories.)

Examples of this use of Generic Health Relevance coding appears across the HRCS guidance, including:

 

Official terminology

Full name of category

Short name Unique ID
Generic health relevance Generic

HRCS_HC_20GEN

 

Related external links

None.

Main inclusion criteria

Dermatological conditions and normal skin development and function.

 

Advice on health categories

Many dermatological conditions are associated with an inflammatory or allergic response. Code to the disease under investigation and not to the accompanying response. This means conditions such as psoriasis and eczema would normally be coded as 100% Skin. However studies of allergies in patients with dermatological conditions can be coded as 50% Inflammatory and Immune System for allergies and 50% Skin.

Similarly infections of the skin should be coded as 100% Infection. However studies of skin infections for patients with pre-existing dermatological conditions can be coded as 50% Infection and 50% Skin.

Studies of ulcers would normally be coded to Skin. However in studies of ulcers in a particular patient population, such as diabetics, the guidance for sequelae and side effects of disease should be followed and the study should be coded to include the additional health category for the underlying condition:

e.g. Venous ulcers would be coded 50% Skin, 50% Cardiovascular.

e.g. Diabetic skin ulcers would be coded 50% Skin, 50% Metabolic and Endocrine.

 

Official terminology

Full name of category

Short name Unique ID
Skin Skin

HRCS_HC_18SKI

 

Related external links

International Classification of Diseases (ICD 10 v2016) – Chapter XII:   Diseases of the skin and subcutaneous tissue (L00-L99)
 

Main inclusion criteria

Research that underpins investigations into the cause, development, detection, treatment and management of diseases, conditions and ill health.

 

Advice on research activities

This code group is for all types of research into ‘normal’ functions and processes in ‘healthy’ humans or systems.

Excludes research where the main aims relate to investigation of the cause, development, prevention, detection, treatment or management of a disease or condition.
 

Official terminology

Full name of code

Short name Unique ID
1 Underpinning research 1 Underpinning

HRCS_RAG_1

 

Related external links

Common Scientific Outline (CSO) – 1 Biology

Summary of Underpinning sub-codes

Main inclusion criteria

Fractures, poisoning and burns.

 

Advice on health categories

This category is designed to capture research directly relating to external accidents, injuries and physical trauma and should not include endogenous studies of damage such as ischemic injury.

Intervention studies preventing or treating falls should be coded to Injuries and Accidents. It may be appropriate to also code for specific conditions if the study involves a particular patient group.

Excludes studies of wound healing, unless the wound was acquired by accident.
 

Official terminology

Full name of category

Short name Unique ID
Injuries and accidents Injuries

HRCS_HC_09INJ

 

Related external links

International Classification of Diseases (ICD 10 v2016) – Chapter XIX:   Injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes (S00-T98)
International Classification of Diseases (ICD 10 v2016) – Chapter XX:   External causes of morbidity and mortality (V01-Y98)
 

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