The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) has initiated an ongoing effort to establish a core library of harmonized pediatric terms, beginning with a focus on neonatal and infant examination concepts as part of a broader terminology framework. Continued efforts to harmonize pediatric terminology will support the acquisition, exchange, submission and archival of clinical research data, ultimately supporting the health and wellbeing of children.
NICHD terminology files are available for download from an NCI EVS ftp site (http://evs.nci.nih.gov/ftp1/NICHD/) in three formats. A textual representation of the hierarchy of NICHD terms is provided as well; the terms in this hierarchy, which are restricted to NICHD terms only, do not necessarily have a direct parent-child relationship within the NCI Thesaurus (NCIt). The Changes file is published monthly and contains all changes that have been made to NICHD content in the current production version of the NCIt when compared to the most recently posted previous file.
- NICHD.xls (Microsoft Excel 2003)
- NICHD.xlsx (Microsoft Excel 2007*)
- NICHD.txt (Tab-delimited text)
- NICHD_Hierarchy.txt (Text Hierarchy)
- Changes.txt (Changes)
Each file has the following column headers on the first row:
Spreadsheet Column Content Description Column A: NCIt Code A unique, machine readable string that begins with a "C" and is followed by a series of digits; each concept in the NCIt has one concept code. Column B: NCIt PT The Preferred Term, the most commonly used term for a particular concept. Each concept has one NCIt PT. Column C: NICHD PT The Preferred Term chosen by NICHD for a particular concept. Column D: NICHD SY A Synonym, a term chosen by NICHD and considered to possess the same meaning as the Preferred Term within a particular concept. Column E: NCIt Definition A statement of the meaning of a particular concept. Column F: NCIt Code of NICHD Parent The unique identifier assigned to the NICHD parent concept. Column G: NICHD Parent PT The Preferred Term of the concept chosen by NICHD to be the parent concept for purposes of a hierarchical representation. Column H: NCIt Code of NICHD Parent The unique identifier assigned to the second NICHD parent concept (if applicable). Column I: NICHD Parent PT The Preferred Term of the concept chosen by NICHD to be the second parent concept (if applicable) for purposes of a hierarchical representation. Column J: NCIt Code of NICHD Subset The unique identifier assigned to the NICHD subset concept. Column K: NICHD PT of NICHD Subset The Preferred Term chosen by NICHD to be assigned to the Name of the Subset Association. Concepts belonging to a particular list of terms are linked by a subset association. Columns J&K (and L&M, N&O, etc...) Will appear as a pair for every subset association to which a specific concept belongs.
NICHD terminology is bundled into subsets, identified by code and name, starting with columns J and K. These are the names of the subsets and definitions supplied by NICHD:
Subset Name Subset Description NICHD Pediatric Terminology A core library of terms associated with pediatrics, representing information related to child health and development from pre-birth through 21 years of age; contributed by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (All terms belong to this set of terminology.) NICHD Newborn Screening Terminology Terminology for concepts associated with neonatal and infant examination contributed by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. NICHD Pregnancy & Childbirth Terminology Terminology for concepts associated with Pregnancy, Labor and Delivery contributed by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
Process: The database is reconciled the last Monday of every month; this is the database from which a production version is generated to correspond to the files posted on the ftp site. The files will be posted during the following two weeks. Additional terms may be suggested at the Term Suggestion page; please indicate NICHD as the project.
Several subdirectories hold older and related files:
- http://evs.nci.nih.gov/ftp1/NICHD
- Archive/ Directory of dated release versions.
- Documentation/ Directory of related documentation.
Help requests on these files should go to NCIThesaurus@mail.nih.gov