Mon22November1200AM 9

A diagnostic test has a sensitivity of 90% and a specificity of 95%. This means:

(Please select 1 option)

10% of positive tests are true positives

The test is likely to be useful for general screening Correct

95% of negative tests are false negatives

5% of negative tests are true negatives

90% of positive tests are false positives

Explanation

Sensitivity is a measure of the actual positives which are correctly identified (in this case 90% of positive tests are true positives).

Specificity measures the proportion of negatives which are correctly identified (e.g. the percentage of healthy people who are correctly identified as not having the condition).

Screening programmes require both high sensitivity and specificity.

Answer Statistics

1

3%

2

81%

3

2%

4

14%

5

1%

Times answered: 257