ISO/TS 16843-5:2019

Overview

ISO/TS 16843-5:2019 - Health Informatics - Categorial structures for representation of acupuncture - Part 5: Cupping - defines a structured, machine‑friendly conceptual model for documenting cupping as an acupuncture intervention. The Technical Specification specifies a set of domain constraints, characterizing categories, and semantic links to be used in terminological resources and electronic records so that cupping procedures can be described consistently, unambiguously and in a way suitable for computer processing.

Key topics and technical content

• Defines a concept system for cupping that pairs semantic links with applicable characterizing categories (domain constraints).
• Characterizing categories (examples from the standard):
  • Cupping site (body surface or acupuncture point)
  • Cup type and cup size
  • Decompressed pressure and pressure control method
  • Pressure control device
  • Performing method, needling, containing material
  • Duration and number of cups
• Semantic links that express relationships between concepts (examples include):
  • is applied to, is applied as, is applied with, is applied by
  • is applied for, is applied selecting, is applied utilizing
  • is provided by, is decompressed by, is equipped with, is proportional to
  • (Also defines links such as is used for and is followed by for compositional representations.)
• Scope and conformance: guidance on how to use the categorial structure within terminological resources and the presence of a conformance section to support implementation.

Practical applications and users

ISO/TS 16843-5:2019 is intended to improve semantic clarity and interoperability of cupping data across clinical, research and information systems:

• Terminology developers and vendors of Electronic Categorial Structures can use the specification to build knowledge bases and controlled vocabularies for cupping.
• Health informatics implementers can map cupping elements into electronic health records (EHRs), clinical trial databases and clinical decision support systems.
• Researchers and systematic reviewers benefit from standardized reporting structures that reduce heterogeneity in clinical trials and facilitate meta‑analysis and data pooling.
• Clinicians and educators gain a shared semantic framework for documenting and teaching cupping procedures.
• Text‑mining and corpus projects can apply the categorial model to extract structured cupping data from literature and historical acupuncture documents.

Related standards

• ISO/TS 16843 series (other parts covering acupuncture representation)
• ISO 19611 (referenced for configuration of certain air extraction cupping devices)
• External anatomy coding systems (e.g., Foundational Model of Anatomy) are recommended for precise site identification.

Keywords: ISO/TS 16843-5:2019, cupping, health informatics, categorial structures, acupuncture, semantic links, terminological resources, cup type, decompressed pressure, pressure control method, interoperability.