What is Chapter 07 of ICD-11?
The Chapter 07 of ICD-11 is dedicated to sleep and wake disorders. According to the Reference Guide, it is a new chapter of the ICD-11 that brings together disorders that were previously located in different chapters, especially in the respiratory, neurological or mental health chapters.
The WHO explains that by bringing them together in a single chapter it was possible to include more detail for many sleep-related disorders.
Structure of chapter 07
The official guide summarizes the hierarchy of chapter 07 this way:
| Level | Description |
|---|---|
| 1st level | Broad categories of disease or type of disorder |
| 2nd level | Specific disease or type of disorder |
| 3rd level | Greater specificity of the disease or type of disorder |
This allows for more consistent organization and more detail than in ICD-10, where sleep disorders could be absorbed into chapters that were not specifically focused on sleep medicine.
Practical reading of Chapter 07
The uploaded PDF does not detail in this section all the complete internal blocks of chapter 07, but it does make clear the construction logic of the chapter and its clinical reason. Therefore, the guide here focuses on that general structure without inventing lists not supported by the document.
The chapter starts from broad categories disease or type of disorder. This is the first level of grouping and serves as a gateway to locate the disorder within the chapter.
Once the large category is identified, the hierarchy descends to the level of specific disease or specific type of disorder. This makes it possible to better separate entities that in the ICD-10 could be mixed into inhomogeneous blocks.
The third level adds greater specificity of the disorder. This is one of the explicit advantages that the WHO attributes to the new chapter: being able to describe many sleep-related disorders in more detail.
The official justification is clear: sleep and wakefulness disorders are placed in a overlap zone between mental health, neurology and pulmonary conditions, so it was more logical to group them in a single chapter.
Comparison ICD-10 vs ICD-11 — Chapter 07
The big difference that the WHO highlights is not so much a table of blocks as a change in conceptual location: sleep disorders are no longer distributed among other chapters, but are integrated into their own chapter.
| Situation in ICD-10 | Change in ICD-11 |
|---|---|
| Sleep disorders distributed among respiratory, neurological or mental health chapters | They focus on the new chapter 07 “Sleep and wakefulness disorders” |
| Heterogeneous blocks and less specific detail in some groups | Greater detail for many sleep-related disorders |
| Overlap between specialties | Own chapter that recognizes the intersection between neurology, mental health and pulmonary conditions |
Reading and coding guidance
1. Do not look for these disorders in old chapters out of habit
In ICD-11, sleep-wake disorders should be read first from the chapter 07, not from neurology, respiratory or mental health, unless the clinical picture itself refers to another specific diagnostic logic.
2. Think of sleep medicine as its own axis
The WHO makes it clear that these disorders deserve their own chapter due to their transversal nature. The correct reading of the chapter requires understanding this transversality and not forcing it within old blocks of the ICD-10.
3. Take advantage of greater specificity
The new hierarchy allows you to reach levels of greater detail. In practice, this means that it is advisable to go down from the broad category to the specific disorder and then to its degree of specificity when documentation allows it.