Standard Disease ClassificationsData on diseases, disabilities and causes of death are commonly indexed and analyzed by use of standard norms for classification and coding. This process allows comparison of data collected by different researchers and the sharing of raw data from one epidemiologic or health-services investigation to another. The use of codes as short tags for more elaborate narrative descriptions of diseases simplifies the recording and storage of data and allows it to be manipulated in computers.The standard guide to classifying and coding diseases and other medical conditions is the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), published by . . .