Category C - Diseases
Indexing Principles
All aspects of the disease described in the article must be indexed. Sometimes the disease can be indexed with a single precise MeSH term. For example, an article about renal tubular acidosis can be indexed with a single exact MeSH term ACIDOSIS, RENAL TUBULAR.
In many cases, however, a disease cannot be indexed with a single MeSH term. For example, an article about cerebellar encephalomalacia is indexed with the precoordinated organ-disease term CEREBELLAR DISEASES (IM) and ENCEPHALOMALACIA (IM). There are many precoordinated organ /disease terms in MeSH such as LIVER DISEASES, LUNG DISEASES, and HEART DISEASES. When indexing a disease in a specific organ, always check the MeSH vocabulary to see if the specific term is there.
Indexing Organ-Disease Concept not in MeSH
To index an organ-disease concept NOT in MeSH, such as temporal lobe disease, the indexer must follow these steps:
- Check MeSH for temporal lobe diseases - it is not a MeSH term
- Check MeSH for temporal lobe - it is a MeSH term
- Index TEMPORAL LOBE
- Locate TEMPORAL LOBE in the Category A (anatomy) MeSH tree (see Tree A08.186.211 below) and note the MeSH term that it is treed under -- CEREBRAL CORTEX
- Check MeSH for cerebral cortex diseases -- it is not a MeSH term
- Continue up the Category A tree from CEREBRAL CORTEX until you locate the term that has the corresponding disease term in Category C. This is BRAIN DISEASES
- Coordinate TEMPORAL LOBE with BRAIN DISEASES
The correct indexing for temporal lobe diseases is:
BRAIN DISEASES (IM)
TEMPORAL LOBE (IM)
Many MeSH terms are annotated with indexing information for diseases related to this term. It includes coordination instructions, IM/NIM instructions, and other useful indexing hints, such as how to index inflammation (-itis) of an organ.
Here are two examples of annotations.
The annotation for TEMPORAL LOBE says
diseases: coordinate IM with BRAIN DISEASES (IM); neoplasms: coordinate IM with BRAIN NEOPLASMS (IM)
The annotation for PHARYNX says
inflammation = PHARYNGITIS
Some disease terms, such as ACUTE DISEASE and CHRONIC DISEASE are annotated as NIM coordinates with specific diseases IM.
Last Reviewed: January 26, 2017