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Sensitivity

(Last edited: Tuesday, 14 March 2017, 8:55 AM)
  • Measure of a test’s ability to correctly detect people with the disease
  • Sensitivity and specificity are inversely proportional: when sensitivity increases, specificity decreases and vice versa
  • Example: 

A sensitivity of 97.5% in mammography screening means that every woman with a tumor will be correctly detected in 97.5% of the cases. 2.5% might have a tumor, but cannot be identified through the screening.

Further information:  Understanding and using sensitivity, specificity and predictive values.

Example for using sensitivity in a study:  Sensitivity and specificity of mammography and adjunctive ultrasonography to screen for breast cancer in the Japan Strategic Anti-cancer Randomized Trial (J-START): a randomised controlled trial. 

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