Variation of a test's sensitivity and specificity with disease prevalence.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the sensitivity and specificity of a diagnostic test may vary with disease prevalence. Our objective was to investigate the associations between disease prevalence and test sensitivity and specificity using studies of diagnostic accuracy.

Methods

We used data from 23 meta-analyses, each of which included 10-39 studies (416 total). The median prevalence per review ranged from 1% to 77%. We evaluated the effects of prevalence on sensitivity and specificity using a bivariate random-effects model for each meta-analysis, with prevalence as a covariate. We estimated the overall effect of prevalence by pooling the effects using the inverse variance method.

Results

Within a given review, a change in prevalence from the lowest to hig

SUBMITTER: Leeflang MM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3735771 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature