Specificity is the probability that a screening or diagnostic test returns a negative result, conditioned on the person truly not having the condition being tested for: a highly specific test rarely flags a healthy person as positive, making it useful for confirming a condition when it comes back positive. It is sensitivity's counterpart, and the two are read together rather than alone, since prevalence in the tested population changes how a given sensitivity and specificity translate into the chance that a positive or negative result is actually correct. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
First Described YearSourced to the subject's own account First Described EraSourced to the subject's own account1947, introduced by biostatistician Jacob Yerushalmy alongside sensitivity as a statistical measure of diagnostic test accuracy; comparable assessments of test accuracy trace back to early 1900s serology work on complement fixation testing for syphilis, before these two terms existed. 1 Concept ClassSourced to the subject's own account Connections
Associated With
Read together, never alone, as the two halves of a screening test's performance, in a documented trade-off with each other.
In Branch
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Sensitivity and Specificity
WikipediaLead section
Specificity (true negative rate) is the probability of a negative test result, conditioned on the individual truly being negative. If the true status of the condition cannot be known, sensitivity and specificity can be defined relative to a "gold standard test" which is assumed correct.
Misconceptions section
prevalence rates significantly affect these interpretations
Article body, sentence on the 1947 introduction
The terms "sensitivity" and "specificity" were introduced by American biostatistician Jacob Yerushalmy in 1947.
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