Interpretation of dichotomous outcomes: sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratios, and pre-test and post-test probability

摘要

This is the second Research Note in a two-part series on theinterpretation of statistical methods used to analyse dichotomousoutcomes. The first paper covered risk, odds, risk ratios, oddsratios, and number needed to treat. This paper focuses onsensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratios, and pre-test and posttest probability. These additional measures are calculated from 2 x2 contingency tables, as were the risk ratios and odds ratiospreviously covered. An example of a contingency table is shown inBox 1.