title: Statistical methods for the estimation of sensitivity and specificity of site-specific diagnostic tests.
abstract: The performance of periodontal diagnostic tests is often evaluated by estimating their sensitivity and specificity with respect to a traditionally accepted standard test regarded as a "gold standard" in making the diagnosis. Correlated samples of binary data arise in dental research. The fundamental unit for analysis is occasionally the site rather than the patient in site-specific dental studies. Statistical methods that take into account the within-patient correlation should be employed to estimate the sensitivity and the specificity of diagnostic tests since site-specific results within a patient can be highly correlated. Several statistical methods are introduced for the estimation of the sensitivity and the specificity of site-specific diagnostic tests; these techniques are applied to the data from a study involving an enzymatic diagnostic test to motivate and illustrate the estimation of the sensitivity and the specificity of periodontal diagnostic tests.
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Epidemiology, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston 77030, USA. chulahn@heart.med.uth.tmc.edu
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ahn
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016010:Binomial Distribution; D003945:Diagnosis, Oral / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010510:Periodontal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology; D012015:Reference Standards; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity