These terms may be used to describe how confident your healthcare provider is in your test results.
Learn about sensitivity and specificity and how they are used to select appropriate testing and interpret the results.
Sometimes there is more than one potential diagnosis, and a medical test can help narrow down the possibilities.
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Personal risk factors may increase the risk of an unidentified disorder and suggest earlier or more frequent screening.
These factors include family history, sex, age, and lifestyle.
The decision to use one test over another requires careful consideration of both sensitivity and specificity.
This helps healthcare providers and patients make the best decisions about testing and treatment.
Why Is Sensitivity and Specificity Important?
Not every test is useful for diagnosing a disease.
A healthcare provider must carefully grab the most appropriate test for an individual based on specific risk factors.
Choosing the wrong test may be useless, and a waste of time and money.
It may even lead to a false positive test, suggesting a disease that is not actually present.
Some tests may not find a disease often enough in patients who are really sick.
Others may incorrectly suggest the presence of a disease in someone who is actually healthy.
Healthcare professionals take into consideration the strengths and weaknesses of tests.
They take a stab at avoid any choices that might lead to the wrong treatment.
It may seem logical that both a false negative and false positive should be avoided.
If the presence of a disease is missed, treatment may be delayed and real harm may result.
It would be best if a test had both a high sensitivity and a high specificity.
Unfortunately, not all tests are perfect.
It is expensive, and somewhat invasive, to do the testing.
The test itself may have certain risks.
Everyone is not tested for every disease.
Screening for specific diseases is targeted to at-risk people.
For example:
Summary
Knowing the strengths of different tests is useful for effectively identifying a disease.
Unfortunately, the wrong test may lead down a path toward additional testing or even improper treatment.
Skilled healthcare providers will be able to help a patient in need judiciously snag the appropriate testing.
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