Vital Signs Cross-Country Cross-Language Cross-Paradigm (Demo) IG, published by FO. This guide is not an authorized publication; it is the continuous build for version 0.5.4 built by the FHIR (HL7® FHIR® Standard) CI Build. This version is based on the current content of https://github.com/frankoemig/vital-signs-demo/ and changes regularly. See the Directory of published versions

Use of LOINC

This obstacle discusses the use of LOINC codes:

It appears that the LOINC codes are somehow incomplete in their definition. Let's take arterial systolic BP as an example:

LOINC	Long Common Name	Component	Property	Timing	System	Scale	Method	Class	Example UCUM Units	Order/Observation
86908-1	Systolic blood pressure goal	Intravascular systolic goal	Pres	Pt	Arterial system	Qn		CLIN	mm[Hg]	Both
8450-9	Systolic blood pressure–expiration	Intravascular systolic^expiration	Pres	Pt	Arterial system	Qn		BP.MOLEC	mm[Hg]
89280-2	Systolic blood pressure–during anesthesia	Intravascular systolic^during anesthesia	Pres	Pt	Arterial system	Qn		BP.MOLEC	mm[Hg]	Both
8451-7	Systolic blood pressure–inspiration	Intravascular systolic^inspiration	Pres	Pt	Arterial system	Qn		BP.MOLEC	mm[Hg]
89268-7	Systolic blood pressure–lying in L-lateral position	Intravascular systolic^lying in L-lateral position	Pres	Pt	Arterial system	Qn		BP.MOLEC	mm[Hg]	Both
87741-5	Systolic blood pressure–post exercise	Intravascular systolic^post exercise	Pres	Pt	Arterial system	Qn		BP.MOLEC	mm[Hg]	Both
8459-0	Systolic blood pressure–sitting	Intravascular systolic^sitting	Pres	Pt	Arterial system	Qn		BP.PSTN.MOLEC	mm[Hg]
8460-8	Systolic blood pressure–standing	Intravascular systolic^standing	Pres	Pt	Arterial system	Qn		BP.PSTN.MOLEC	mm[Hg]
8461-6	Systolic blood pressure–supine	Intravascular systolic^supine	Pres	Pt	Arterial system	Qn		BP.PSTN.MOLEC	mm[Hg]
87739-9	Systolic blood pressure–W exercise	Intravascular systolic^W exercise	Pres	Pt	Arterial system	Qn		BP.MOLEC	mm[Hg]	Both
8452-5	Systolic blood pressure.inspiration - expiration	Intravascular systolic.inspiration - expiration	Pres	Pt	Arterial system	Qn		BP.MOLEC	mm[Hg]

8480-8 cannot act as a parent code for all type of systolic measurements within the above group because the others are not real specialisations. Doing some exercising normally leads to an increase of the measured value. The reference range is also increased influencing the interpretation. So, without knowing the context a correct interpretation is not possible.