Pneumonia vs. Pneumonitis

The terms pneumonia and pneumonitis are often used interchangeably. In SNOMED CT, pneumonia is used for infectious causes, and pneumonitis is used for noninfectious causes.

Pneumonia is a type of pneumonitis, as inflammation is present in both. The distinguishing feature between the two disorders is the presence of infection in pneumonia. Pneumonia has a Pathological process (attribute) of Infectious process (qualifier value); Pneumonitis does not.

Figure: Stated view of 205237003 |Pneumonitis (disorder)|
Figure: Stated view of 233604007 |Pneumonia (disorder)|

Morphologic abnormality

The morphologic abnormality for both 233604007 |Pneumonia (disorder)| and 205237003 |Pneumonitis (disorder)| is 409774005 |Inflammatory morphology (morphologic abnormality)|.

The clinically-warranted morphologic abnormality for many subtypes of pneumonia is 707496003 |Inflammation and consolidation (morphologic abnormality)|. Consolidation is a feature of most forms of pneumonia; however, it may not be a feature of all pneumonias, such as atypical pneumonias.

Provide Feedback

Last updated