d_items

The d_items table

Table source: Metavision ICU databases.

Table purpose: Definition table for all items in the ICU databases.

Number of rows: 4,014

Links to:

• chartevents on itemid
• datetimeevents on itemid
• inputevents on itemid
• outputevents on itemid
• procedureevents on itemid

Important considerations

• If the linksto column is null, then the data is currently unavailable, but planned for a future release.

Table columns

Detailed Description

The D_ITEMS table defines itemid, which represents measurements in the database. Measurements of the same type (e.g. heart rate) will have the same itemid (e.g. 220045). Values in the itemid column are unique to each row. All itemids will have a value > 220000.

itemid

As an alternate primary key to the table, itemid is unique to each row.

label, abbreviation

The label column describes the concept which is represented by the itemid. The abbreviation column, only available in Metavision, lists a common abbreviation for the label.

linksto

linksto provides the table name which the data links to. For example, a value of ‘chartevents’ indicates that the itemid of the given row is contained in CHARTEVENTS. A single itemid is only used in one event table, that is, if an itemid is contained in CHARTEVENTS it will not be contained in any other event table (e.g. IOEVENTS, CHARTEVENTS, etc).

category

category provides some information of the type of data the itemid corresponds to. Examples include ‘ABG’, which indicates the measurement is sourced from an arterial blood gas, ‘IV Medication’, which indicates that the medication is administered through an intravenous line, and so on.

unitname

unitname specifies the unit of measurement used for the itemid. This column is not always available, and this may be because the unit of measurement varies, a unit of measurement does not make sense for the given data type, or the unit of measurement is simply missing. Note that there is sometimes additional information on the unit of measurement in the associated event table, e.g. the valueuom column in CHARTEVENTS.

param_type

param_type describes the type of data which is recorded: a date, a number or a text field.

lownormalvalue, highnormalvalue

These columns store reference ranges for the measurement. Note that a reference range encompasses the expected value of a measurement: values outside of this may still be physiologically plausible, but are considered unusual.