What are Failure to Thrive ICD-10-CM Codes?
Failure to Thrive (FTT) is a syndrome marked by insufficient growth or the inability to gain weight consistent with expected normal physiological development in infants, children, and adults. It reflects abnormal clinical signs like muscle wasting, abnormal weight loss, and feeding difficulties, often tied to malnutrition, underlying disorders, or psychosocial stressors. In adults, thrive failure may include symptoms such as fatigue, unintentional weight loss, and declining functional ability. The ICD-10-CM system provides precise options to capture these presentations across age groups for proper medical diagnosis coding.
Correct documentation and use of ICD-10-CM diagnosis codes are essential for Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance service reimbursement and for effectively coordinating multidisciplinary care services.
Primary diagnosis codes
- R62.51 – Failure to thrive (child under five years old): Used to classify thrive in child presentations marked by failure to gain weight, poor growth, or short stature in children under 5. This code is commonly used in pediatric care to identify early childhood growth issues.
- R62.52 – Failure to thrive (child five years and older): Applied when a child over 5 experiences continued weight failure, inadequate growth, or retardation of physical development. This reflects persistent failure to thrive child symptoms.
- R62.7 – Adult failure to thrive: The correct diagnosis code for adult failure to thrive, replacing the outdated R62.53. This failure to thrive code is used when adults present with weight loss, malnutrition, or decline in an individual’s ability to function independently.
Nutritional deficiency codes
- E45 – Retarded development following protein-calorie malnutrition: Captures developmental delays or physical retardation due to prolonged nutritional deficits, including nutritional marasmus. Often used in global health cases, especially in children with severe malnutrition.
- E46 – Unspecified protein-calorie malnutrition: Used when malnutrition contributes to failure to thrive but lacks detailed classification. Can be applied in both pediatric and adult settings with an unspecified lack of expected normal development.
Neonatal feeding problems
- P92.6 – Feeding problems of newborn: This ICD-10-CM diagnosis code identifies feeding difficulties in newborns, such as poor latch, reflux, or fatigue during feeding. Applicable for infants under 28 days or 28 days old with inadequate caloric intake.
- P92.8 – Other feeding problems of newborns: These are used for feeding problems not classified elsewhere, but still contribute to failure to gain weight or failure to thrive.
- P92.9 – Feeding problem of newborn, unspecified: Captures unspecified feeding difficulties contributing to early weight failure. This code is often used initially while awaiting more specific findings.
Social & environmental contributors
- T73.1 – Child neglect: Used when failure to thrive syndrome is linked to child neglect or abuse. Medicaid services and child protection centers often use this in tandem with other FTT codes to ensure intervention.
- Z59.4 – Lack of adequate food and safe drinking water: Captures unspecified lack of basic needs impacting growth and development. This social determinant code links failure to thrive with poverty, food insecurity, or environmental instability.