Common pitfalls in statistical analysis: Understanding the properties of diagnostic tests - Part 1

Priya Ranganathan; Rakesh Aggarwal

doi:10.4103/picr.PICR_170_17

Common pitfalls in statistical analysis: Understanding the properties of diagnostic tests - Part 1

Perspect Clin Res. 2018 Jan-Mar;9(1):40-43. doi: 10.4103/picr.PICR_170_17.

Authors

Priya Ranganathan¹, Rakesh Aggarwal²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Anaesthesiology, Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
² Department of Gastroenterology, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Abstract

In this article in our series on common pitfalls in statistical analysis, we look at some of the attributes of diagnostic tests (i.e., tests which are used to determine whether an individual does or does not have disease). The next article in this series will focus on further issues related to diagnostic tests.

Keywords: Biostatistics; predictive values; sensitivity; specificity.