Diagnostic tests
differ in their risks, benefits, and accuracy.
Doctors may offer a patient a choice of diagnostic tests, each with its own benefits and downfalls. To compare these tests, the patient should consider each test's accuracy and personal financial cost, as well as the potential risks.
Personal Factors
An MRI is a useful but expensive test.
To the patient, the financial and personal costs of each test constitute the most important factors. Some diagnostic tests entail a risk to the patient, and some may not be covered by the patient's insurance.
Specificity and Sensitivity
Specificity and sensitivity measure how likely a given test will give false positive and false negative results, respectively.
Predictive Value
The predictive value is the measure of a test's likelihood to give a correct diagnosis. Positive and negative predictive values measure the likelihood that a positive or negative test result, respectively, is correct.
Prevalence
The impact of a disease's prevalence complicates these statistics. Rare diseases will have poor positive predictive value even with good sensitivity; common diseases will have poor negative predictive value even with good specificity.
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