Principles and Predictive Value of Screening Flashcards
What is screening?
the application of a test to people in order to assist with early identification of a disease.
What is the objective of screening?
to reduce mortality and morbidity with early detection
Good Screening Programs screen for health problems that….(6 things)
- Are important to the individual and community
- Have an acceptable form of treatment
- Has a natural history that is adequately understood
- Has a recognizable latent or early symptomatic stage
- Has a suitable screening test
- Is economically beneficial
3 Requirements of Screening Tests
- Ideally should be inexpensive
- easy to administer (low risk)
- minimal discomfort
What are screening tests based off of?
a Gold Standard based on the evidence
Results of a screening test should be ____ and ____
Accurate / Valid
and
Reliable / Precise
Define Accuracy (Validity)
The degree to which a variable actually represents what it is supposed to represent
What is the best way to assess validity?
compare results to a reference standard
What threatens validity?
Systematic error (aka bias)
Define Precision (Reliability)
The degree to which a variable has nearly the same value when measured several times
What is the best way to assess precision?
repeated measures
What threatens precision?
Random Error
What determines our predictive value?
Sensitivity, Specificity and the Prevalence of the disease
Define the prevalence of a disease
Represented by the number of patients per 100,000 population who have the disease at a given time
How do we determine the validity (accuracy) of a screening test?
Determine its sensitivity and specificity
Define sensitivity
The fraction of those with the disease that are correctly identified as positive by the test
What does sensitivity determine?
Whether or not the test detects true cases of the disease
For example: if you have 100 people with meniscus tears and after performing a meniscal teat test you get a positive meniscus tear 90 times the sensitivity of this screening test is 0.9
Define specificity
The fraction of those without the disease correctly identified as negative by the test.