Conventional approach to SNOMED CT Annotations (archived)

Proposed changes

An annotation attribute is a non-defining SNOMED CT attribute. An annotation is defined as the value of an annotation attribute. The proposal is to create a new subhierarchy dedicated to annotation attributes in SNOMED CT.  There are different options to store all new annotation attributes and their values. The pros and cons of each option are discussed in the design consideration.

Annotation attribute hierarchy

The existing concept 

The annotation attributes accept values, such as metadata, references, notes and associate them with entities, axioms and ontologies. The Descriptions Logic reasoners do not use these annotation attributes for classifications. The proposed annotation hierarchy is shown below.

• 246061005 |Attribute (attribute)| 

• 900000000000457003 |Reference set attribute (foundation metadata concept)| 

  • 900000000000519001 |Annotation (attribute)| 

    • |Attribution (attribute)| - new annotation attribute

    • |Change note (attribute)| - new annotation attribute 

      • |Inactivation note (attribute)| - new annotation attribute

The descriptions in SNOMED CT are mapped to OWL annotations. They are critical clinical terms that should not be mixed with other metadata annotations. The annotation attribute hierarchy excludes the core metadata concepts for fully specified names, synonyms and definitions. 

Two new annotation type reference sets:

Metadata

The following metadata supports these reference sets :

Component annotation type reference set

The new component annotation type reference set replaces of the existing 900000000000516008 |Annotation type reference set| with relaxed constraints. The annotated component is changed from 900000000000461009 |Concept type component| to 

The major changes are demonstrated in the Descriptor Template. The tables below show the descriptors that define the structure of the |Component annotation type reference set| pattern and examples of the descriptors for specific reference sets that follow this pattern.

Descriptor Template for Component Annotation Type Reference Set

The attributeType for the Annotation field can be any descendant of the |Attribute type (foundation metadata concept)| in the metadata hierarchy.

Descriptor refset for Attribution component annotation Reference Set

The attributeType for the |Attribution (attribute)| field can be any descendant of the |Uniform resource locator (foundation metadata concept)| in the metadata hierarchy.

Descriptor refset for Inactivation note  component annotation reference set

The attributeType for the |Inactivation note (attribute)| field can be any descendant of the |String (foundation metadata concept)| in the metadata hierarchy.

Component annotation reference set example

Member annotation type reference set

The new Member annotation type reference set needs to be created to support annotations on members of any reference sets.  The new annotation type refset includes specific attributes:

• refsetId - Identifies the reference set to which this reference set member belongs. In this case, a subtype descendant of |Member annotation type reference set|.

• referencedComponentId - A referred the referencedComponentId in the referencedMember entry in a refset.

• referencedMemberId - A reference to the UUID of a member in a reference set. The entity to which the annotation is being applied.

• Annotation - Any descendant of 900000000000459000 |Attribute type (foundation metadata concept)| in the metadata hierarchy.

Descriptor Template for Member annotation type reference sets

The attributeType for the Annotation field can be any descendant of the |Attribute type (foundation metadata concept)| in the metadata hierarchy.

Descriptor refset for Change note member annotation reference set

The attributeType for the |Change note (attribute)| field can be any descendant of the |String (foundation metadata concept)| in the metadata hierarchy.

Member annotation reference set example

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