Question

Hello, can you please assist with the following:
Name a common diagnostic/screening test used in public health. Is it more important for the test to be sensitive or for it to be specific? Why? What would be the implications if the result were a false positive? What if there was a false negative result?
Thank you

Answer 1

Mammography is a common diagnostic test /screening test used in public health, which is used to test breast cancer.

Mammography should be sensitive, its because the sensitivity of a diagnostic test means the ability of the test to identify truly diseased people or true positive people.

Specificity means the ability of a diagnostic test to identify the person without the disease means to identify true negative people.

So, a test should be sensitive.

False-positive means wrongly positive, If the test shows a positive result in a healthy individual then it is defined as false positive. False-positive is seen in high sensitive tests.

False-negative means wrongly negative,  If the test shows a negative result in a diseased individual then it is defined as a false negative.