UMLS 2012AB Release Available

The 2012AB release of the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) Knowledge Sources is available for download as of November 15, 2012.

In the new UMLS Release there are:

• More than 2.8 million concepts and 11.2 million unique concept names from over 160 source vocabularies; the full Metathesaurus requires 23 GB of disk space
• Four new sources
  • Eight-item Informant Interview to Differentiate Aging and Dementia (LNC_AD8)
  • FACIT Measurement System - Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy (LNC_FACIT)
  • Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire (LNC_MLHFQ)
  • Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (LNC_SPERTUS)
• One updated mapping
  • ICNP_2011 to SNOMEDCT_2011_07_31
• 33 updated English sources and 10 updated translation sources including MeSH, MedDRA, RxNorm, and SNOMED CT (English and Spanish)

Data Changes

• One name change appears in MRSAB.
  • HUGO (SAB=HUGO) is now HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee. Its SAB is HGNC.
• The Metathesaurus no longer includes the Home Health Classification (HHC). Clinical Care Classification (CCC) is the updated version of this vocabulary and is included in the Metathesaurus as of 2012AA.

ICD-9-CM

• The Metathesaurus includes the March 2012 version of ICD-9-CM. It does not include the August 2012 data corrections. For information about the corrections see the CMS Web site: https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Coding/ICD9ProviderDiagnosticCodes/codes.html.

Logical Observation Identifier Names and Codes (LOINC)

• The representation of LOINC (SAB=LNC) in the Metathesaurus does not include the following content:
  • Ages & Stages Questionnaire
  • Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale
  • Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement (PROMIS)
  • Test of Infant Motor Performance (TIMP)
  • Veterans RAND 12 Item Health Survey (VR-12)
• RSAB=LNC_NEUROQOL_2001 corrected to RSAB=LNC_NEUROQOL_2010.

Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities (MedDRA)

• The content provider did not include mapping information for MedDRA (SAB=MDR). As a result, the Metathesaurus does not include updated mappings for MedDRA to ICD-9-CM, CST95, and WHOART.

SNOMED CT

• The Metathesaurus does not include the RF1 revised relationships file from August 2012.

Release Information
For more information about the release, see the What's New and Updated Sources sections of the Release Documentation.  Additional release statistics are published on the UMLS Web site.

To access the UMLS Release files, you must have an active UMLS Metathesaurus License and a valid UMLS Terminology Services (UTS) account. You will be prompted for your UTS username and password when downloading the files. 

Additional information regarding the UMLS is available on the UMLS homepage. New users are encouraged to take the UMLS Basics Tutorial and to explore the new UMLS Quick Start Guide, training materials and other information on the New Users' homepage.

DVDs
As always, the production and mailing of the UMLS DVDs occur about four weeks after the release is made available for download.

To request or cancel a DVD:  Sign in to the UTS and edit your UTS profile to select or deselect the DVD option. 

Note: The 2012AB release is the last release for which a DVD is being produced, see: NLM Ceasing Production of UMLS DVD.

Source Release Documentation
2012AB Source Release Documentation Web pages will be published following the release.