Korean Journal of Family Medicine

"International Classification of Primary Care"

Original Articles

Comparison between the International Classification of Primary Care and the International Classification of Diseases Classifications in Primary Care in Korea: Mi-Ra Cho, Yu-Jin Kwon, Shin-Hye Kim, Jinseub Hwang, Jimin Kim, Jangmi Yang, Jeonghoon Ahn, Jae-Yong Shim; Korean J Fam Med 2022;43(5):305-311. Published online September 20, 2022; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4082/kjfm.22.0119

Background
The International Classification of Primary Care-2 (ICPC-2) is a classification method designed for primary care. Although previous studies have found that ICPC-2 is a useful tool for demonstrating the relationship between patients’ expectations and health providers’ diagnoses, its utility of ICPC-2 has yet to be fully studied in Korea. This study aimed to evaluate the practicality of ICPC-2 in Korean primary care.
Methods
The study was conducted at primary care clinics in Seoul and Gyeonggi areas from October to November 2015. Third-year family medicine residents examined and analyzed the medical records of patients who visited primary care physicians using ICPC-2, and the results were compared with those obtained using the International Classification of Diseases-10 (ICD-10) (Korean version: Korean Standard Classification of Diseases-7).
Results
A total of 26 primary care physicians from 23 primary care clinics participated in the study. Furthermore, 2,458 ICD-10 codes and 6,091 ICPC-2 codes were recorded from the data of 1,099 patients. The common disease codes were vasomotor and allergic rhinitis (J30), according to ICD-10, and acute upper respiratory infection (R74) in ICPC-2. Comparing disease status by body systems, the proportion of gastrointestinal disease with ICD-10 codes was significantly higher than that with ICPC-2 codes (P<0.001). Furthermore, patients with >4 diagnoses accounted for 36% of the ICD-10 classifications, whereas those with >4 diagnoses accounted for 4% of the ICPC-2 classifications.
Conclusion
Introducing ICPC as a complementary means for diagnosing common diseases could be a practical approach in Korean primary care.

Citations

Citations to this article as recorded by

Evaluation of Diagnoses According to ICD‐10 and ICPC‐2 in Family Medicine Practice: A Retrospective Study
Olgun Göktaş, Marta Laranjo
International Journal of Clinical Practice.2025;[Epub] CrossRef

6,797 View
83 Download
1 Web of Science
1 Crossref

Trends of the New Outpatients in a University-based Family Practice: Byung-Sung Kim, Sang-Hyuk Kim, Hyun-Rim Choi, Chang-Won Won; Korean J Fam Med 2011;32(5):285-291. Published online July 28, 2011; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4082/kjfm.2011.32.5.285

Abstract
PDF

Background

Analysis of outpatient visits to primary care offers essential data for residency training by understanding 'reasons for encounter (RFE).' This study was designed to recognize the effect of population aging on demographic characteristics and RFEs.

Methods

We included all patients who had visited family practice clinic in Kyung Hee University Hospital in Seoul during each first 5 working days of September, October, and November in 2001 and 2008. New patients included those who hadn't visited within the last 6 months or more. Information on each patient's age, sex, and reason for encounter was obtained from the electronic medical record. The RFEs were compared using International Classification of Primary Care (ICPC)-2-E.

Results

Mean age of overall outpatients was 50.5 and 52.4 years in 2001 and 2008 respectively. The number of new outpatient visits increased from 215 (21.3%) to 326 (29.7%) between 2001 and 2008 (P < 0.001) along with the number of patients aged 65 or more from 7.4% to 12.0% (P = 0.08). Mean age of established patients was 52.5 and 56.9 years (P < 0.001), and the patients aged 65 or more was 14.1% and 35.8% (P < 0.001) in 2001 and 2008 respectively. Analysis by ICPC-2-E revealed a decrease in chapter A in 2008 (P = 0.03) and an increase in chapter F, L, and X (P = 0.01, 0.003, <0.001). Component 1 had increased (P = 0.01), and component 2 had decreased (P = 0.04) in proportion.

Conclusion

Changes in population composition have brought a shift of the distribution of age in outpatients, more significantly in follow-up patients. Comparison by ICPC-2-E showed changes in RFEs of new patients between 2001 and 2008.