The active field of each component version indicates whether a component is active or inactive. However, it does not provide any information about why a concept or description has been inactivated. The reason why a concept or description has been inactivated is indicated by a row in a component Inactivation reference set. The reason for inactivation may determine the appropriate way to deal with data in existing records, protocols or queries that use a concept or description after it has been inactivated.
The two component inactivation Reference Sets are shown in the table below.
Component Inactivation Reference Sets
Reference Set Id and Name
Note
The reason for inactivation is specified by a concept enumeration.
The permitted values for this enumeration for a concept are documented in the Editorial Guide pages on Concept Inactivation, and the type of historical association that should be applied is also provided.
Additionally, the inactivation reasons that may be stated for description inactivation are documented in this page: Description Inactivation
Related Links
See also the formal specification of .
Indicates the reason that a concept has been made inactive.
Indicates the reason that a description has been made inactive.
An 900000000000480006 | Attribute value type reference set| allows a value from a specified range to be associated with a component. This type of reference set can be used for a range of purposes where there is a requirement to provide additional information about particular concepts, descriptions or relationships. For example, an |Attribute value type reference set| is used to indicate the reason why a concept has been inactivated.
Data Structure
An Attribute value reference set is a component reference set used to apply a tagged value to a SNOMED CT component. Its structure is shown in the following table.
Attribute Value Reference Set - Data Structure
Field
Data type
Purpose
Mutable
PK*
The metadata concepts shown below are examples of concepts that identify attribute value reference sets.
Attribute Value Reference Sets in the Metadata Hierarchy
< Not currently used
Concept Inactivation Values (with usage notes referring to the International Release)
< New introduced 2017-07-31< NEVER used for descriptions in the International Release - may have been used in extensions
Description Inactivation Values (with usage notes referring to the International Release)
< New introduced 2017-07-31< New introduced 2017-07-31< NOT used for description inactivations after 2010-07-31<NOT used for description inactivations before 2016-07-31 or after 2017-07-31<NOT used for description inactivations before 2016-07-31 or after 2017-07-31< NOT used for description inactivations before 2008-07-31 or after 2017-07-31< NEVER used for descriptions in the International Release - may have been used in extensions
The tables below show the descriptors that define examples of reference sets that follow the pattern.
Refset Descriptor Rows for the Concept Inactivation Indicator Reference Set
refsetId
referencedComponentId (Referenced component)
attributeDescription (Attribute description)
attributeType (Attribute type)
attributeOrder (Attribute order)
Refset Descriptor Rows for the Description Inactivation Indicator Reference Set
refsetId
referencedComponentId (Referenced component)
attributeDescription (Attribute description)
attributeType (Attribute type)
attributeOrder (Attribute order)
Sample Rows from the Concept Inactivation Indicator Reference Set
refsetId
referencedComponentId (Referenced component)
valueId (Concept inactivation value)
Boolean
The state of the identified reference set member as at the specified effectiveTime. If active = 1 (true) the reference set member is part of the current version of the set, if active = 0 (false) the reference set member is not part of the current version of the set.
YES
NO
moduleId
SCTID
Identifies the SNOMED CT module that contains this reference set member as at the specified effectiveTime .
The value must be a subtype of within the metadata hierarchy.
YES
NO
refsetId
SCTID
Identifies the reference set to which this reference set member belongs.
In this case, a subtype descendant of:
NO
NO
referencedComponentId
SCTID
A reference to the SNOMED CT component to be included in the reference set.
NO
NO
valueId
SCTID
The tagged value applied to the referencedComponentId. A subtype of .
YES
NO
1
1
id
UUID
A 128 bit unsigned Integer, uniquely identifying this reference set member.Different versions of a reference set member share the same id but have different effectiveTime. This allows a reference set member to be modified or made inactive (i.e. removed from the active set) at a specified time.
NO
YES
(Full/Snapshot)
effectiveTime
Time
The inclusive date or time at which this version of the identified reference set member became the current version.
Note : In distribution files the effectiveTime should follow the short ISO date format (YYYYMM DD) and should not include the hours, minutes, seconds or timezone indicator.The current version of this reference set member at time T is the version with the most recent effectiveTime prior to or equal to time T.
PK* indicates if the attribute is part of the primary key for that file/table.
Metadata
Note. Other attribute value reference sets exist but are not used to track component inactivation
Reference Set Descriptor and Example Data
Notes on the tables used to show descriptors and examples
The reference set example tables on this page have been revised as follows to aid clarity and understanding:
The first four columns which are present in all release files are not shown. The omitted columns (id, effectiveTime, active, moduleId) are used in the same way in all referenced sets to support identification, versioning and packaging. They do not directly affect the specific features of a particular reference set or reference set type.
Reference set columns that contain SNOMED CT identifiers are expanded to show details of the concept or description referenced by that identifier. In some cases, the term is shown in the same column using the expression syntax, in other cases an additional column with a name suffix '_term' has been added. In the standard reference set files only the identifier is present in the column and there is no added column for the term. When using reference sets, the term and other details of the component are looked up from the relevant component release files.