ICD-10 Reference: ICD 10 Anemia
Part of our ICD-10 Easy Reference series, making coding easier by allowing easy code lookups.
What is Anemia?
Anemia occurs when there aren’t enough healthy red blood cells to carry oxygen to your body’s organs. As a result, patients may feel cold, weak, or tired, and complain of fatigue, dizziness, or low energy.
Anemia is characterized by a decrease in the number of red blood cells, a decrease in the concentration of hemoglobin within the red blood cells, and a decrease in the total amount of hemoglobin in the blood.
The code D64.9, Unspecified anemia, is used when additional side effects or sites affected by the disease are not known.
Symptoms of Anemia
- Fatigue
- Pallor
- Shortness of breath
- Palpitations
- Dizziness
- Headaches
- Weakness
The ICD-10 code for Anemia is D64.9.
The 2023 ICD 10 code for anemia is D64.9, Unspecified anemia. This code is used to indicate anemia in the absence of any further specification or affected sites.
Why was D64.9 used?
The D64.9 code is used when the underlying cause of the anemia is unspecified, or when the underlying cause is unknown or uncertain. This code is also used if the anemia is idiopathic or due to a nutritional deficiency.
It is important to note that this code should not be used if the anemia is due to an underlying disease process, such as acute or chronic blood loss, bone marrow failure, or any other condition which is known to cause anemia.
Does D64.9 require any backreferences?
While D64.9 does not require any backreferences of its own, 2 codes do contain backreferences to it:
What does D64.9 stand for?
The D at the beginning of the code stands for the chapter of the ICD-10 that pertains to diseases of the blood and blood-forming organs and certain disorders involving the immune mechanism.
The 64 stands for the specific family of diseases within that chapter, which in this case are Anemia(s).
The .9 indicates that the anemia is unspecified, meaning that the exact cause of the anemia is not known or that more specific information about disease sites, symptoms, or side effects that would indicate a more specific diagnosis is not known at the time of coding.