What's new for DeCS 2019

This article highlights changes to DeCS in 2019.

Totals by type of terminology

DeCS language 2018 2019 variation 18/19
amount %
Descriptors English 33476 33889 413 1.2%
Spanish (America) 33476 33889 413 1.2%
Spanish (Spain) 33476 33889 413 1.2%
Portuguese 33476 33889 413 1.2%
Entry Terms English 212214 214448 2234 1.1%
Spanish (America) 51757 58101 6344 12.3%
Spanish (Spain) 43381 48913 5532 12.8%
Portuguese 58654 63548 4894 8.3%
Qualifiers English 80 77 -3 -3.8%
Spanish (America) 80 77 -3 -3.8%
Spanish (Spain) 80 77 -3 -3.8%
Portuguese 80 77 -3 -3,8%
Total 500230 520659 20429 4.1%

Changes for 2019


The ten subcategories receiving the greatest number of new descriptors:

Subcat code Subcategory name Amount of descriptors
D13
Heterocyclic Compounds
106
D02
Organic Chemicals
97
SP2
Health Care (Public Health)
57
D12
Amino Acids, Peptides, and Proteins
52
SP1
Health Policy, Planning and Management
47
SP3
Population Studies in Public Health
41
SP4
Environmental Health
32
D04
Polycyclic Compounds
22
B01
Eukaryota
20
L01
Information Science
17
SP9
Health Law
17

New descriptors per category

DeCS/MeSH tree category

Amount of descriptors

A - Anatomy

6

B - Organisms

22

C - Diseases

22

D - Chemicals and Drugs

241

E - Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques and Equipment

25

F - Psychiatry and Psychology

16

G - Phenomena and Processes

29

H - Disciplines and Occupations

8

HP - Homeopathy

1

I - Anthropology, Education, Sociology and Social Phenomena

16

J - Technology, Industry, Agriculture

14

K - Humanities

2

L - Information Science

17

M - Named Groups

2

N - Health Care

37

SH - Science and Health

13

SP - Public Health

188

V - Publication Characteristics

20

VS - Health Surveillance

8

Z - Geographicals

0
The total is greater than the number of new descriptors because some of them occur in more than one category.

2019 DeCS is available for online searching through DeCS Search or directly from VHL Regional Portal.

Helpful Links

Please consult the DeCS 2019 edition or the onlineIntroduction to MeSH 2019 for more details. The complete lists the changes to the vocabulary are available on the links below:

Vocabulary changes

New descriptors

Replaced descriptors

Deleted descriptors

DeCS and MeSH tree number changes


MeSH 2019 highlights:

MeSH is available in RDF linked data format.

O MeSH 2019 is available for download in XML, ASCII and MeSH / MARC.


Changes to MeSH/DeCS Headings

1. MeSH Publication Types

Twenty new publication types are available for 2019.

Clinical Trial, Veterinary

Clinical Trial Protocol

Observational Study, Veterinary

Systematic Review

Note: The entry term Systematic Review was deleted from Review when this new publication type was created.

Indexing Policy: In 2016, NIH narrowed the definition of a Clinical Trial to specify that it be used for humans only going forward. For that reason, NLM added additional MeSH clinical trial terminology to address animal trials. Note that the publication type Clinical Trial Protocol, however, can be used for both human and animal clinical trials that are being planned. Indexers will coordinate this term with either Humans or Animals.

Sixteen new publication types will be used by NLM Cataloging only.

Catalog, Commercial

Catalog, Drug

Catalog, Union

Dictionary, Chemical

Dictionary, Classical

Dictionary, Dental

Dictionary, Medical

Dictionary, Pharmaceutic

Dispensatory

Formularies, Dental

Formularies, Hospital

Formulary, Homeopathic

Manuscript, Medical

Pharmacopoeia, Homeopathic

Preprint

Web Archive


Seven publication type strings were changed for publication types that are used for indexing:

Addresses to Address

Congresses to Congress

Government Publications to Government Publication

Lectures to Lecture

Legal Cases to Legal Case

Personal Narratives to Personal Narrative

Portraits to Portrait


Fifty-four publication type strings were changed for publication types that are used for Cataloging only.


Three MeSH headings were changed to publication types for 2019. These publication types are used by Cataloging only. New "as Topic" MeSH headings were not created:

Catalogs, Booksellers’ to Catalog, Bookseller

Catalogs, Publishers’ to Catalogs, Publisher

Dictionaries, Polyglot as Topic to Dictionary, Polyglot


Three new "as Topic" MeSH headings will be used for MEDLINE indexing. Their corresponding publication types will be used for MEDLINE indexing as well:

Clinical Trial Protocols as Topic

Clinical Trials, Veterinary as Topic

Systematic Reviews as Topic

Note: Systematic review protocols are indexed as Systematic Reviews as Topic.


Lastly, five new "as Topic" MeSH headings will be used for MEDLINE indexing. Their corresponding publication types will not be used for MEDLINE indexing:

Collections as Topic

Diary as Topic

Forms as Topic

Preprints as Topic

Web Archives as Topic


2. MeSH qualifier (subheading) changes

For 2019 MeSH, NLM has continued its project of reviewing subheadings in order to improve indexing consistency and efficiency and to make MEDLINE searching easier and more straightforward.

1. One subheading was deleted and replaced by a new MeSH heading:

The new MeSH heading Workforce was created to replace /manpower. Note that the existing MeSH heading Health Manpower was changed to Health Workforce, which is a child to Workforce.

2. In addition, two subheadings were deleted and replaced with existing subheadings.


3. Other changes of particular interest include

a) Two MeSH concepts merged into one

b) Special MeSH Projects

Several special projects were undertaken by MeSH staff that resulted in the following new 2019 MeSH headings:

(i) Neoplasm terms:

Adenocarcinoma of Lung

Carcinoma, Ovarian Epithelial

Chondrosarcoma, Clear Cell

Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Myopericytoma

Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Pancreatic Intraductal Neoplasms

Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck

Thyroid Cancer, Papillary


(ii) Data terms:

Big Data

Data Aggregation

Data Science

Data Systems

Data Visualization

Deep Learning


(iii) Drug combination terms:

Artemether, Lumefantrine Drug Combination

Cilastatin, Imipenem Drug Combination

Lidocaine, Prilocaine Drug Combination

Piperacillin, Tazobactam Drug Combination

Tobramycin, Dexamethasone Drug Combination


(iv) Dietary Protein terms:

Fish Proteins, Dietary

Fruit Proteins

Grain Proteins

Meat Proteins

Nut Proteins

Pea Proteins

Poultry Proteins

Shellfish Proteins


(v) Behavior terms:

Burnout, Psychological

Cyberbullying

Disenfranchised Grief

Disgust

Egocentrism

Embarrassment

Respecto

Road Rage

Sadness


(vi) Person term:

Ex-Smokers


c) Do not confuse:


d) Entry combination revisions

This year, NLM will again retrospectively replace certain MeSH heading/subheading combinations, known as Entry Combinations, with the new pre-coordinated MeSH heading. If you get no retrieval for a MeSH heading/subheading combination check the heading in the 2019 MeSH Browser to see if the Entry Combination information indicates a different term.

There are fifteen new entry combinations for 2019.

2018

2019

Allogeneic Cells/transplantation

Transplantation, Homologous

Enzymes/therapeutic use

Enzyme Therapy

Epidermis/cytology

Epidermal Cells

Heavy Ions/therapeutic use

Heavy Ion Radiotherapy

Intestines/metabolism

Intestinal Mucosa/metabolism

Intestines/secretion

Intestinal Mucosa/metabolism

Jaw /surgery

Orthognathic Surgical Procedures

Nose/metabolism

Nasal Mucosa/metabolism

Nose/secretion

Nasal Mucosa/metabolism

Piperazines /analogs & derivatives

Piperazine

Pharmacy/history

History of Pharmacy

Protons/therapeutic use

Proton Therapy

Sodium-Glucose Transporter 2/antagonists & inhibitors

Sodium-Glucose Transporter 2 Inhibitors

Stomach/metabolism

Gastric Mucosa/ metabolism

Stomach/secretion

Gastric Mucosa/ metabolism




Other pertinent articles:

MEDLINE/PubMed Year-End Processing Activities

2019 MeSH Headings available in the MeSH browser

2019 MeSH available for download

Cataloging news - 2019

MEDLINE Data changes - 2019

What's new for 2019 MeSH

Newly maintained MEDLINE for 2019 MeSH now available in PubMed


Source:

Schulman JL. What's New for 2019 MeSH®. NLM Tech Bull. 2018 Nov-Dec;(425):e4a. Available at Internet: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/nd18/nd18_mesh.html

Adaptation: Health Terminologies and Classifications Section at BIREME/PAHO/WHO


Last update: May, 2019