How “old age” was withdrawn as a diagnosis from ICD-11

Abstract

The classification of the causes of death and diseases dates back to the 18th century. The International Statistical Institute adopted the first international classification of diseases in 1893. After 1948, WHO assumed responsibility for publishing the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) as a global, multilingual catalogue of known human diseases, medical conditions, and mental health disorders, to standardise disease diagnosis. The 11th revision (ICD-11) was launched on Jan 1, 2022. The ICD is a platform for systematic statistical data collection, which are analysed and interpreted to compare causes of mortality and morbidity in different countries or regions of the world over time.