title: Can you handle the truth (and know it when you see it)? Understanding sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, and ROC curves.
abstract: The interpretation of diagnostic and screening tests requires a basic knowledge of sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values. This article provides an overview of these measures of test performance, a brief description of receiver operating characteristic curves, and relevant illustrations from the medical literature.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Women & Infants Hospital, Brown Medical School, Providence, Rhode Island 02905, USA.
authors.forename: Kristen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cotter
authors.forename: Jeffrey F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Peipert
mesh_terms: D001431:Bacteriological Techniques / Q000592:standards; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004716:Endometritis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology; D005188:False Negative Reactions; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000592:standards; D000292:Pelvic Inflammatory Disease / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012372:ROC Curve; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity