title: A review of sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratios: evaluating the utility of the electrocardiogram as a screening tool in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
abstract: Appropriate interpretation of a screening test's validity poses a challenge to the clinician. The purpose of this review is to revisit the terms sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratio, and pre- and posttest probability and their application to the clinical setting. For illustration, we use a recently published article in the American Journal of Cardiology that investigates the false negative rate of electrocardiograms in athletic preparticipation screening for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pediatric Cardiology, Texas Children's Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Tex, USA.
authors.forename: Elijah
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bolin
authors.forename: Wilson
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lam
mesh_terms: D056352:Athletes; D002312:Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic / Q000175:diagnosis*; D016757:Death, Sudden, Cardiac / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
keywords: Electrocardiogram; Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy; Likelihood Ratio; Pre- and Posttest Probability; Sensitivity; Specificity