Healthline Semantic Taxonomy

• Technology Platform
  • Healthline Semantic Taxonomy
  • Medically Guided Search
  • HealthSTAT
• Products
  • Health Search
    • Medically Guided Search
    • HealthLinks
    • SmartAnswers
  • Decision Support Applications
    • SymptomSearch
    • TreatmentSearch
    • DocSearch
    • DrugSearch
  • Content
    • Original Content
    • Bodies In Motion
    • Healthline BodyMaps

The largest, most clinically accurate classification of health information on the web

Healthline's Semantic Taxonomy

Healthline has combined the most comprehensive data set of medical terminology and codes with current consumer terms into a taxonomy that transforms health search into a relevant and engaging experience.

This semantic taxonomy is the cornerstone of Healthline’s consumer-focused search capabilities and also powers a stack of decision support applications, tools, and content solutions that can be delivered across an array of channels including web, mobile, and email.  Healthline offers a robust, flexible health information experience with meticulously maintained and updated resources.

Healthline Semantic Taxonomy by the Numbers

• 700,000 total concepts representing more than 2 million medical terms, including:

- 50,000 drug concepts (drug class, brand name, generic name)
- 230,000 substances (food, hormones, amino acids, gene, chemicals)
- 8,000 diseases and over 80,000 subcategories of diseases
- 32,000 symptoms and clinical findings
- 5,000 anatomy concepts
- 1,000 occupations/disciplines (specialists/specialty)
- 23,000 procedures (lab, non-lab, tx, preventative)

• More than 2 million semantic relationships, including:

- 35,000 Disease: Symptom
- 15,000 Disease: Generic Drugs
- 300,00 Disease: Brand Name Drugs
- 21,000 Disease: Specialists and Procedures: Specialists
- 20,000 Disease: Diagnostic procedures
- 50,000 Disease: Treatment procedures
- 200,000 Disease: Codes, Drug: Codes, Treatments: Codes
- More than 1 million Hierarchical Relationships

How Semantic Taxonomy Works

For example, when a consumer enters the simple two-word phrase “heart attack,” Healthline semantic search crawls our taxonomy and understands all the concepts related to a heart attack, it can navigate the health consumer to the relevant information they need—such as symptoms, treatment options, or risk factors—without the user having to toggle back and forth between web pages and the search box.

This is how the semantic taxonomy categorizes the "heart attack" concept:

• Semantic Type: Disease/Condition
• Symptoms: Chest Pain, Shortness of Breath, Heartburn, Sweating, Nausea, Vomiting
• Diagnostic Procedures: EKG, Electrocardiography, Blood Pressure Monitoring, Coronary Angiography, MUGA Scan
• Treatment Procedures: Antiplatelet Drug Therapies, Intravenous Infusions, Angioplasty, Oxygen Therapy, Thrombolytic Therapy
• Medications: Atenolol, Warfarin, Alteplase, Aspirin, Nitroglycerin, Clopidogrel, Enalapril, Ticlopidine
• Physician Specialty: Cardiologists, Emergency Medicine
• Reimbursement Codes: 410.9 (ICD)
• Risk Factors: Age, Hereditary Factors, High Blood Pressure, High Fat Diet, Diabetes
• Complications: Abnormal Heart Rhythms, Cardiogenic Shock, Congestive Heart Failure, Cardiac Arrest
• Causes: Coronary Artery Disease, Overwhelming Stress, Thrombus
• Prevention: Blood Pressure Management, Cholesterol Management, Low Fat Diet, Smoking Cessation, Intentional Weight Loss, Diabetic Monitoring
• Synonyms: Myocardial Infarction, Cardiac Infarction, Heart Infarction
• Children Terms: Silent Myocardial Infarction, Acute Myocardial Infarction, First Myocardial Infarction