The latest release of LOINC marks the first one on our new schedule and adds 400 new terms and numerous updates. Version 2.71 is now available for free from the LOINC website.
Noteworthy changes with this release
SCHEDULE: To better align with users’ needs and our internal timelines, LOINC’s twice-yearly release schedule has now shifted to mid-February and mid-August. LOINC 2.71 and RELMA 7.4 is the first release according to this new schedule, and our next release will be in February 2022.
RELEASE NOTES: In the recent June 2021 release of LOINC 2.70 and RELMA 7.3, we began to publish combined release notes across all LOINC artifacts on a single page on the LOINC Knowledge Base (KB) as well as a PDF in each LOINC artifact download. Individual Readme notes continue to be published with each accessory file.
Content highlights
Although this was an abbreviated release cycle, a significant amount of work was still accomplished including creating 400 new and editing 562 terms. Also note that two previously deprecated terms were changed to active status.
During this release cycle, we continued to prioritize creating LOINC terms and other resources related to SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 testing, clinical care, documentation, and reporting. Filtered subsets of these terms can be found on our dedicated web page. This page will be updated daily with any new pre-release terms or edits.
For continued highlights of new and updated content included in this release, please refer to the LOINC Release Notes page. The LOINC KB also has an archive of past LOINC Release Notes, though be aware this older information is not available through a KB search.
Notice of upcoming changes
RELEASE STRUCTURE: Beginning in February 2022, we are streamlining the LOINC release structure to make it easier for users to access all of the necessary files. The LOINC table and accessory files will be released together as a single archive, and RELMA will be provided as a separate download file. Individual accessory files will no longer be available as separate downloads, and therefore will no longer have independent version numbers.
LOINC TABLE STRUCTURE: The following fields will be deleted from the LOINC Table Structure in the August 2022 release:
- EXAMPLE_SI_UCUM_UNITS
- UnitsAndRange
- SUBMITTED_UNITS
- CDISC_COMMON_TESTS
These fields have not been used or maintained over the last several years. The LOINC Release Notes further explain the reasoning behind this change.
SearchLOINC
We continue to roll out improvements to our SearchLOINC web application. Recently we added the ability to configure the columns displayed in search results. This includes a few LOINC fields like Rank and SIRank that were previously excluded from the new SearchLOINC. See User Settings (LOINC login required) to change your configuration. Details on all recent development is available within the app’s changelog.
We welcome your feature requests and bug reports as we work to improve upon this tool. App updates will continue to be released periodically.
The former SearchLOINC has been discontinued with this LOINC release. The previous version was made available temporarily during the introduction of the new application.
LOINC FHIR® Terminology Services (TS) API
New and updated LOINC content available in version 2.71 has been added to our terminology service using HL7® FHIR®. Stay tuned for a separate announcement of forthcoming improvements to this service. You can expect this news in approximately one week.
See current TS documentation at https://loinc.org/fhir.
Linguistic variants updated with this release
We are always grateful for the network of volunteers who provide translations of LOINC terms and especially to those who were able to share updates within this shortened cycle. The following translations have been updated with this release. All linguistic variants are available within SearchLOINC and RELMA, as well as a download of the Linguistic Variants Version 3.3 file.
- de_AT_24 – German (AUSTRIA)
- fr_CA_8 – French (CANADA)
- it_IT_16 – Italian (ITALY)
- nl_NL_22 – Dutch (NETHERLANDS)
See the LOINC Release Notes for details on when each of the 16 linguistic variants was last updated.
RELMA Version 7.4
No significant changes have been made in this version of RELMA. At this time, we have put RELMA into maintenance mode as we look toward transitioning to an online version of the program.