Interval of Uncertainty: An Alternative Approach for the Determination of Decision Thresholds, with an Illustrative Application for the Prediction of Prostate Cancer.

ABSTRACT: Often, for medical decisions based on test scores, a single decision threshold is determined and the test results are dichotomized into positive and negative diagnoses. It is therefore important to identify the decision threshold with the least number of misclassifications. The proposed method uses trichotomization: it defines an Uncertain Interval around the point of intersection between the two distributions of individuals with and without the targeted disease. In this Uncertain Interval the diagnoses are intermixed and the numbers of correct and incorrect diagnoses are (almost) equal. This Uncertain Interval is considered to be a range of test scores that is inconclusive and does not warrant a decision. It is expected that defining such an interval with some precision, prevents a relati

SUBMITTER: Landsheer JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5102386 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature