Evaluation of SNOMED CT Content Coverage: A Systematic Literature Review

Background: One of the most important features studied for adoption of terminologies is content coverage. The content coverage of SNOMED CT as a large scale terminology system has been evaluated in different domains by various methods. Objectives: This study provided an overview of studies evaluating SNOMED CT content coverage. Methods: This systematic literature review covered Scopus, Embase, PubMed and Web of Science. It included studies in English language with accessible full-text from the beginning of 2002 to November 2017. Results: Reviewing 62 studies revealed that 76 percent of studies were carried out in the US and other countries started to study in this regard from 2007. Most of the studies focused on the comparison of SNOMED CT with disease classifications in the domain of "diagnosis and problem list". Conclusion: Studying the trend of studies in different countries shows that SNOMED CT content coverage is not limited to the early stages of SNOMED CT adoption. However, evaluation methods are likely different due to the stage of SNOMED CT implementation. Therefore, it is recommended to identify and compare evaluation methods of SNOMED CT content coverage in future studies.