A primitive concept that is a supertype of specified concept and is not a supertype of any other primitive concept that is a supertype or the specified concept.
Notes
- All concepts except the root concept have at least one proximal primitive supertype concept. In many cases this is a top level hierarchy concept. However, in some case one or more intermediate primitive supertypes may exist between the top level concept and a defined concept.
- A concept's proximal primitive supertypes represent aspects of the meaning of that concept that are not formally defined by other axioms.
- The chapter on Proximal primitive modeling in the SNOMED CT Editorial Guide explains the role of proximal primitive supertypes in modeling concepts.
Example
In Figure 1 the concepts C, D, E and F have a single proximal primitive supertype B. Concept A is also primitive, but it is a supertype of B so it is not a proximal primitive supertype of these concepts. Similarly concepts H, J and N have a single proximal primitive supertype G. Concepts L and M have a single proximal primitive supertypeI. Note that G is not a proximal primitive supertype for these concepts because it is a supertype of concept I. In this hierarchy only concept P has more than one proximal primitive supertypes. The proximal primitive supertypes of concept P are concepts K and I as neither of these concepts is a supertype of the other.
Figure 1: Illustrative Hierarchy Diagram
Alternatives
- Proximal primitive parent
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