ICD-Based Diagnosis Grouping System

(DGS) for child ED visits

 Download the Grouping System (DGS) – SAS VERSION
(zip file for SAS)

 Download the Grouping System (DGS) – EXCEL VERSION
(zip file for Excel)

A meaningful classification of pediatric diagnoses seen in emergency departments can provide a systematic method to describe, aggregate, and compare trends within and across institutions to facilitate clinical research and quality improvement.

The Diagnosis Grouping System (DGS) was created with twenty-one clinically relevant major diagnosis groups and seventy-seven subgroups that are largely based on body system or body region involved. The DGS was first developed to account for International Classification of Disease 9th revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9) codes.ⁱ The DGS has been updated to account for ICD-10 codes.ⁱⁱ

The created ICD-based Diagnosis Grouping System is

1. Clinically sensible with regard to how diagnoses are grouped;
2. Comprehensive in accounting for nearly all diagnoses occurring in pediatric emergency medicine visits; and
3. Parsimonious in that the number of groups developed is acceptable for descriptive and analytic purposes.

The DGS is available for SAS users and/or Excel users as two separate “zip” files located above.

ⁱAlessandrini EA, Alpern ER, Chamberlain JM, Shea JA, Gorelick MH. A new diagnosis grouping system for child emergency department visits. Acad Emerg Med. 2010;17(2):204-213. doi:10.1111/j.1553-2712.2009.00635.x

ⁱⁱUpdate with new manuscript when available.

Melissa Metheney
Technical Assistance

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