Information about the Japanese Translation of MedDRA
For questions concerning the Japanese translation of MedDRA (MedDRA/J) – if not
addressed in this document – please contact the JMO Help Desk
Email for JMO Subscribers: [email protected]
Email for Non-JMO Subscribers: [email protected]
Duplicate Japanese Translations
The MedDRA Japanese translation (MedDRA/J), maintained by the Japanese Maintenance
Organization (JMO), is provided as a bilingual (English-Japanese) terminology. All
linguistically unique English terms, from SOC to LLT level, are translated into unique
Japanese counterparts. Because of cultural and linguistic differences, MedDRA/J gives the
same Japanese translation to different English terms at the LLT level. This means that the
same Japanese term exists with different MedDRA code numbers and different English
descriptions. Keeping Japanese terms unique from one another is essential to retain
consistency of data, and therefore, MedDRA/J currency flags are assigned to Japanese
terms to support Japanese “uniqueness” (see below); note that this “currency flag” approach
is used only for the Japanese translation.
Duplicate Japanese translations are assigned to the following types of English MedDRA
terms:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
British vs. American spelling; e.g., Oedema vs. Edema
Fully spelled term vs. abbreviation; e.g., Malnutrition protein-calorie vs. PCM
Singular forms vs. plural forms; e.g., terms with “foot” vs. “feet”
Terms that differ only in word order; e.g., Liver disorder vs. Disorder liver
Synonyms with different origins; e.g., Headache vs. Cephalgia
Some lay expression terms; e.g., Dizziness upon standing vs. Dizzy on standing
Some noun forms vs. adjective forms; e.g., Blindness vs. Blind
MedDRA/Japanese Currency Flag
All Japanese LLTs have assigned a Japanese currency flag of either “Y” (current) or “N”
(non-current).
Japanese currency flag “Y” (current) is assigned to:


MedDRA/J LLTs that have a unique Japanese translation (i.e., no other terms have
the same Japanese translation)
A single MedDRA/J LLT selected from a group of MedDRA/J LLTs that have the same
Japanese translation
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Japanese currency flag “N” is assigned to:


MedDRA/J LLTs corresponding to non-current English terms
MedDRA/J LLTs having identical Japanese translations to a term flagged “Y” in
Japanese currency flag
Priority for Assignment of MedDRA/J Currency Flag “Y”
To determine which MedDRA/J LLT receives the “Y” currency flag, terms are considered in
the following priority order. (Note that items 1 – 7 below correspond to the list under
“Duplicate Japanese Translations” above):
(Default) LLTs identical to their PTs
1. British spelling
2. Fully spelled term
3. Singular form
4. Natural word order in English
5. Those terms frequently used in the medical field
6. Case by case
7. Noun form
If assignment of the currency flag cannot be determined based on the above priorities,
additional consideration is given to the order of Japanese translations listed in The Japan
Medical Terminology [Japanese-English version].
Exceptions
Some HLGTs and HLTs have the same Japanese translation with PTs due to their difference
only in a form (i.e., singular vs. plural form).
MedDRA/J Synonym Lists
To address some of the linguistic challenges described above, the JMO distributes a
Japanese synonym file with each MedDRA release.
The following are the Japanese synonym type descriptions, and the table that follows
provides some examples.
1. Synonym: Both Japanese terms are valid medical terms and are translated into the
same English term. (See examples 1, 2, and 3).
2. Colloquial vs. literary/scholarly: One is a colloquial expression and the other is
literary/scholarly expression. (See examples 4 and 5).
3. Imported words: Some “imported words” are described using the original
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pronunciation by the Japanese “KANA” characters. But there are corresponding
Japanese medical terms. (See examples 6, 7, and 8).
4. Renamed diseases: Occasionally, medical academic societies change specific
disease names for scientific or social reasons. When this happens, the former
disease name is kept as a Japanese synonym. (See examples are 9 and 10).
5. “KANA-KANJI” issue: Japanese characters consist of Kanji, hira-KANA and
kata-KANA. There are multiple combinations, and some combinations are used
routinely. Common combinations are treated as Japanese synonyms. (See
examples 11 and 12).
6. “IJITAI” issue: Over 3,000 Kanji characters are used in Japanese. Several Kanji
characters have multiple font forms and multiple computer codes. These are called
“IJITAI”. Several “IJITAI” are incorporated into Japanese synonyms. (See examples
13 and 14).
Examples of Japanese synonyms
No. syn_code syn_kanji
1
90000218 心悸亢進
2
90000373 頻拍
3
90000445 睾丸炎
4
90000126 吃逆
5
90000034 かゆみ
6
90000017 アクネ
7
90000026 おたふくかぜ
8
90000237 静坐不能
9
90001265 精神分裂病
10 90001344 痴呆
11 99000149 犬咬傷
12 99000374 鬱病
llt_code
10033557
10043071
10031064
10020039
10023084
10000496
10028257
10001540
10039626
10012267
10013589
10012378
llt_kanji
動悸
頻脈
精巣炎
しゃっくり
そう痒
ざ瘡
ムンプス
アカシジア
統合失調症
認知症
イヌ咬傷
うつ病
13
99002990 膣穿孔
10065818 腟穿孔
14
99002908 鼠径部感染
10050821 鼡径部感染
Llt_name
Palpitations
Tachycardia
Orchitis
Hiccups
Itching
Acne
Mumps
Akathisia
Schizophrenia
Dementia
Dog bite
Depression
Vaginal
perforation
Groin infection
Use of Japanese synonyms
Japanese synonyms are used to aid in data input. Use of Japanese synonym codes or
descriptions for regulatory submission or overseas information transmission is not permitted.
For regulatory submission or overseas information transmission, it is required to use the LLT
code or description to which the Japanese synonym is linked.
The Japanese synonym file can be imported to MedDRA/J Browser. Also, JMO
subscribers can use Japanese synonyms in the Web based MedDRA/J browser.
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Maintenance of Japanese synonyms
MedDRA Japanese synonyms are maintained by the JMO, and JMO subscribers can submit
change requests for Japanese synonyms using the usual change request procedure.
Japanese synonyms are updated with each MedDRA version. The new Japanese synonym
file is usually uploaded onto the JMO Web site one month following the new MedDRA
version release. At the time of posting, the JMO updates the Japanese synonyms on the
JMO Web based Browser.
ASCII file information
The Japanese synonyms are provided as an ASCII file similar to the MedDRA ASCII files.
The file structure and the field descriptions are listed in the following tables.
File structure of Japanese synonym file (file name: llt_syn.asc)
Field Names
Field Attributes
llt_code
long integer, not null
llt_s_kanji
char (140), not null
llt_s_jcurr
char (1), not null
llt_s_kana
char (200)
llt_s_kana1
char (200)
llt_s_kana2
char (200)
llt_s_code
long integer, not null
Field descriptions
Table Name
Field Name
llt_code
llt_s_kanji
llt_s_jcurr
llt_s_kana
1_llt_syn
llt_s_kana1
llt_s_kana2
llt_s_code
Field Attributes
8-digit code to identify the Lowest Level Term
Full Kanji name of the J-Synonym Term
Indicates whether the J-Synonym Term (“S”）
Full Kana name of the J-Synonym Term（single byte
kana）
Full Kana name of the J-Synonym Term（single byte
kana, if another reading exists）
Full Kana name of the J-Synonym Term（single byte
kana, if another additional reading exists）
8-digit code to identify the J-Synonym (Initial code is
“9”)
1. Note: Although there are the fields for kana, actual J-Synonym file does not contain
kana data.
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2. Data are delimited by “$”. There is no “$” at the beginning of the first field and after the
last field.
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