Principles of Diagnostic Testing Series Part 5 – Population characteristics: Prevalence Sometimes more than one diagnostic test is conducted to increase overall test sensitivity or specificity. For example, disease eradication programs may necessitate multiple diagnostic tests to ensure that an … Continue reading
Principles of Diagnostic Testing Series Part 4 – Disease Probability Probability is the chance that some event will happen. With disease, probability can be thought of as out a group of individuals exposed to a disease, how many will become … Continue reading
Principles of Diagnostic Testing Series Part 3 – Population characteristics: Prevalence Prevalence is an estimation of an individual’s risk of having a disease at a specific point in time. Apparent prevalence, or the proportion of test-positive individuals at a specific … Continue reading
Principles of Diagnostic Testing Series Part 2 – Test Characteristics: Infectious Disease Antigen and Antibody Testing Some of the most common diagnostic tests for infectious diseases detect either antigens or antibodies. An antigen is a foreign substance that elicits an … Continue reading
Principles of Diagnostic Testing Series Part 1 – Test Characteristics: Sensitivity and Specificity The performance characteristics of a diagnostic test influence the circumstances that the test is most useful and how the results might be interpreted. Ideally, every diagnostic test … Continue reading
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