Question

Fasting glucose to insulin ratio to measure insulin sensitivity: Reported sensitivity is .95 and reported specificity is .84. Prostate specific antigen in serum screening: reported sensitivity is .79 and reported specificity is .95. 1. What are the advantages and disadvantages for each test? 2. What might be the consequences of negative and positive results for each test?

Answer 1

a) The first test will predict 95% time accurately when someone has the disease but only 84% time it will predict it will have not had the disease.

Sensitivity: If a person has a disease, how often will the test be positive

Specificity: If a person does not have the disease how often will the test be negative

high sensitivity is good when the disease is serious whereas high specificity is good for where specific test rules in disease with a high degree of confidence.

thanks :)