Defines codes for the representation of time period (e.g. age) ranges that are unambiguous, human readable, and machine-readable as a compositional grammar (i.e. the code system defines rules for constructing codes, rather than explicitly enumerating all possible codes). This CodeSystem profiles ISO 8601 for expressing time period ranges through two simple durations (as defined in the ISO 8601 specification).

Codes in the code system are defined according to the grammar:

A time period (e.g. age) range is defined as two durations: [duration1]--[duration2] , where duration1 specifies the lower inclusive bound of the age range (everyone who is this age and above) and duration2 specifies the upper exclusive bound of the age range.

For example, the age range "1-9 years" means everyone who is at least one year old and less than 10 years old represented as P1Y--P10Y . The age range "10-14 years" means everyone who is at least 10 years old and less than 15 years old and is represented as P10Y--P15Y .

Durations define the amount of time between two time points. These durations are represented in the form P[n]Y[n]M[n]DT[n]H[n]M[n]S or P[n]W . The [n] is replaced by the value for each of the time elements that follow the [n] and the letters have the meaning:

• P is the duration designator (for period) placed at the start of the duration representation.
  • Y is the year designator that follows the value for the number of years.
  • M is the month designator that follows the value for the number of months.
  • W is the week designator that follows the value for the number of weeks.
  • D is the day designator that follows the value for the number of days.
• T is the time designator that precedes the time components of the representation.
  • H is the hour designator that follows the value for the number of hours.
  • M is the minute designator that follows the value for the number of minutes.
  • S is the second designator that follows the value for the number of seconds. (Note that seconds can be a decimal in this format to allow for milliseconds)

For example, P3Y6M4DT12H30M5S represents a duration of three years, six months, four days, twelve hours, thirty minutes, and five seconds .

Date and time elements including their designator may be omitted if their value is zero, and lower-order elements may also be omitted for reduced precision. For example, P23DT23H and P4Y are both acceptable duration representations. However, at least one element must be present, thus P is not a valid representation for a duration of 0 seconds . PT0S or P0D , however, are both valid and represent the same duration.

Note that the designator M is used for both months and minutes, but this is not ambiguous because the minutes designator must be preceded by the time designator T . For example P1M is one month , while PT1M is one minute .

Content for this code system is adapted from the definition in the IHE-ADX profile: https://www.ihe.net/uploadedFiles/Documents/QRPH/IHE_QRPH_Suppl_ADX.pdf (Appendix 8K Representation of Age Groups in ADX). In addition, the code system definition is adapted from similar content published as part of the SANER implementation guide. See Age Range Coding System .

This code system is defined to support consistent, unambiguous, human- and machine-readable representations of time period ranges. A primary intended use case is to support the specification of value sets of age ranges for the purposes of data stratification (also referred to as disaggregation).