The MedDRA Paradox
Abstract
MedDRA (the Medical Dictionary for Regulatory
Activities Terminology) is a controlled vocabulary
widely used as a medical coding scheme. However,
MedDRA’s characterization of its structural hierarchy
exhibits some confusing and paradoxical features. The
goal of this paper is to examine these features, determine
whether there is a coherent view of the MedDRA
hierarchy that emerges, and explore what lessons are
to be learned from this for using MedDRA and similar
terminologies in a broad medical informatics context
that includes relations among multiple disparate terminologies,
thesauri, and ontologies.