On the present use of ICF in medical publication

Introduction/Background The aim of the study is to record the present use of ICF with respect to publications, types of reports and diagnostic groups. Material and method Search was performed using PubMed for International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health or ICF for 2011 and 2016. The areas for journals were grouped using Web of Science. Type of studies and diagnostic groups were recorded. Results 280 and 274 papers were found for 2011 and 2016 respectively. Most common areas for publications were Rehabilitation (46,1%, 43.4%), Public, environmental and occupational health (8.6%, 6.6%), Paediatrics (5.0%, 6.6%), Clinical neurology (5.0%, 5.9%). Most common journals were Disability and Rehabilitation (10.4%, 16.1%), Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine (10.0%, 5.5%), BMC Public Health (5.4%, 0%). Most common diagnostic groups were Neurological (20.4%, 28.5%), Paediatric (13.9%, 13.1%) and Musculoskeletal (13.6%, 13.1%) and general use of ICF (26.8%, 22.6%). Around 60% of the papers were original reports, the rest being reviews, special reports or editorials. ICF was used as a conceptual background in original reports (22.9%, 29.6%), in reviews etc. (25.4%, 21.9%) and to describe instruments or subjects with codes in original reports (39.6%, 35.0%) and reviews etc. (10.7%, 11.3%). ICF was in original reports used for outcome assessments (1.8% and 2.2%), but no such reports were found among reviews. Conclusion The use of ICF and journals for publication has been rather constant between 2011 and 2016. Variations in use of publication journals may to some extent depend on topic issues. Few papers have yet appeared where ICF is used for outcome assessment.