Clinical Chemistry AACC Online Job Center
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

Clinical Chemistry 27: 1569-1574, 1981;
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit an electronic Letter to
the Editor about this paper
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Robertson, E. A.
Right arrow Articles by Zweig, M. H.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Robertson, E. A.
Right arrow Articles by Zweig, M. H.

Clinical Chemistry, Vol 27, 1569-1574, Copyright © 1981 by American Association for Clinical Chemistry

Use of receiver operating characteristic curves to evaluate the clinical performance of analytical systems

EA Robertson and MH Zweig

The usefulness of an analytical system in patient care is ultimately judged not by its analytical performance but by its clinical performance, i.e., its ability to separate apparently similar patients into two subgroups, one of which has a particular clinically important condition and another subgroup which does not. This clinical performance can be studied with the tools of signal detectability theory, originally developed to analyze the performance of radar and data-transmission systems. Each classification made by an analytical system may be categorized as a true-positive, true-negative, false- positive, or false-negative decision. For laboratory tests the proportion of decisions in each category depends on the biological overlap between the two subgroups, the analytical performance of the system, and the decision level chosen. The clinical performance of the analytical system for all possible decision levels is represented by the receiver operating characteristic curve, which plots the true- positive rate against the false-positive rate. The use of these curves permits comparison of alternative analytical techniques at equal true- positive rates and at all possible decision levels. These comparisons show the effect of analytical improvements on clinical performance.


The following articles in journals at HighWire Press have cited this article:


Home page
 Ann. Surg. Oncol.Home page
H. Korner, K. Soreide, P. J. Stokkeland, and J. A. Soreide
Diagnostic Accuracy of Serum-Carcinoembryonic Antigen in Recurrent Colorectal Cancer: A Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve Analysis
Ann. Surg. Oncol., February 1, 2007; 14(2): 417 - 423.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Eur Respir JHome page
J. Rigau, F. Burgos, C. Hernandez, J. Roca, D. Navajas, and R. Farre
Unsupervised self-testing of airway obstruction by forced oscillation at the patient's home
Eur. Respir. J., October 1, 2003; 22(4): 668 - 671.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Arch. Dis. Child. Fetal Neonatal Ed.Home page
J. Sarles, S. Barthellemy, C. Férec, J. Iovanna, M. Roussey, J.-P. Farriaux, A. Toutain, J. Berthelot, N. Maurin, J.-P. Codet, et al.
Blood concentrations of pancreatitis associated protein in neonates: relevance to neonatal screening for cystic fibrosis
Arch. Dis. Child. Fetal Neonatal Ed., March 1, 1999; 80(2): 118F - 122.
[Abstract] [Full Text]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 1981 by the American Association for Clinical Chemistry.