ATCkoodit
ATCkoodit, or ATC codes, refer to the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical classification system used to categorize medicines and other pharmaceutical substances. The system is maintained by the WHO Collaborating Centre for Drug Statistics Methodology and is widely adopted in national health registries, regulatory agencies, and research settings. It provides a standardized language for describing what a drug is used for and how it acts, facilitating comparability across countries and over time. ATC codes are often used together with Defined Daily Dose (DDD) measurements to quantify drug consumption in populations.
The ATC system is hierarchical and consists of five levels, forming a five-part code. Level 1 denotes
Purpose and applications are wide-ranging. Researchers use ATCkoodit to classify medications in epidemiological studies, pharmacovigilance, and