Predictive value of tests is the

probability Probability is the branch of mathematics concerning numerical descriptions of how likely an Event (probability theory), event is to occur, or how likely it is that a proposition is true. The probability of an event is a number between 0 and ...

of a target condition given by the result of a test, often in regard to

medical test A medical test is a medical procedure performed to detect, diagnose, or monitor diseases, disease processes, susceptibility, or to determine a course of treatment. Medical tests such as, physical and visual exams, diagnostic imaging, genetic te ...

s. *In cases where

binary classification Binary classification is the task of classifying the elements of a set into two groups (each called ''class'') on the basis of a classification rule. Typical binary classification problems include: * Medical testing to determine if a patient has c ...

can be applied to the test results, such yes versus no, test target (such as a substance, symptom or sign) being present versus absent, or either a

positive or negative test Positive is a property of positivity and may refer to: Mathematics and science * Positive formula, a logical formula not containing negation * Positive number, a number that is greater than 0 * Plus sign, the sign "+" used to indicate a posit ...

), then each of the two outcomes has a separate predictive value. For example, for positive or negative test, the predictive values are termed positive predictive value or negative predictive value, respectively. *In cases where the test result is of a continuous value, the predictive value generally changes continuously along with the value. For example, for a

pregnancy test A pregnancy test is used to determine whether a female is pregnant or not. The two primary methods are testing for the female pregnancy hormone (human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG)) in blood or urine using a pregnancy test kit, and scanning with ...

that displays the urine concentration of hCG, the predictive value increases with increasing hCG value. A conversion of continuous values into binary values can be performed, such as designating a pregnancy test as "positive" above a certain cutoff value, but this confers a loss of information and generally results in less accurate predictive values.

References

Medical tests {{med-diagnostic-stub

See also

References