Abstract
Diagnostic tests are used throughout medical practice to inform the diagnosis of numerous conditions. This chapter introduces the basic concepts of sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value, which many clinicians will be familiar with. This leads onto the use of Bayes theorem to determine the probability that the condition is present (absent) for a positive (negative) test. The likelihood ratio is defined in terms of sensitivity and specificity. The apparent paradox that the majority of patients with a positive test will not have the condition, when the disease prevalence is low, is explained. The diagnosis of acute pulmonary embolism and of non acute chest pain are considered in relation to guidelines as examples.
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Owen, A. (2023). Diagnostic Tests. In: Statistics for Clinicians. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-30904-5_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-30904-5_6
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