The standard screening test for Down's syndrome is based on...

The standard screening test for Down's syndrome is based on a combination of maternal age and the level of serum alpha-fetoprotein. Using this test $80 \%$ of Down's syndrome cases can be identified, while $5 \%$ of normals are detected as positive. What is the sensitivity and specificity of the test? Suppose that 1 out of 500 infants are born with Down's syndrome.

The standard screening test for Down's syndrome is based on a combination of maternal age and the level of serum alpha-fetoprotein. Using this test $80 \%$ of Down's syndrome cases can be identified, while $5 \%$ of normals are detected as positive.
What is the sensitivity and specificity of the test? Suppose that 1 out of 500 infants are born with Down's syndrome.

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Key Concepts

Specificity

Specificity is the ability of a test to correctly identify individuals who do not have the disease. It is expressed as the proportion of true negative results among all individuals who are actually disease-free, reflecting the test’s capacity to avoid false positive results.

Sensitivity

Sensitivity is the ability of a test to correctly identify individuals who have a particular disease. It is expressed as the proportion of true positive results among all individuals who actually have the disease, indicating the test’s capacity to detect the condition when it is present.

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