Specificity tells us how often the test is negative for someone who doesn’t have the disease (called a true negative). 1% of people with the illness would be missed and falsely told they did not have the disease. If we have a test that is 99% sensitive, it will identify 99% of people who have the disease. False negatives are when the test is negative even though that person does have the disease. In other words, “If you have the disease when you take the test, what is the chance it comes back positive?” A very sensitive test will correctly identify most people who have the disease and has a low false-negative rate. Sensitivity tells us how often the test is positive for someone who actually has a disease (called a true positive). Strap in for the ride and let’s talk stats! We also want to know the positive and negative predictive value. A: Good question! Sensitivity and specificity are characteristics of a medical test that help us determine how useful that test is and how to interpret the result.īUT, they aren’t the be all and end all.
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