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Statistics review 13: Receiver operating characteristic curves

Viv Bewick1*, Liz Cheek1 and Jonathan Ball2

Author Affiliations

1 Senior Lecturer, School of Computing, Mathematical and Information Sciences, University of Brighton, Brighton, UK

2 Senior Registrar in ICU, Liverpool Hospital, Sydney, Australia

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Critical Care 2004, 8:508-512 doi:10.1186/cc3000

Published: 4 November 2004

Abstract

This review introduces some commonly used methods for assessing the performance of a diagnostic test. The sensitivity, specificity and likelihood ratio of a test are discussed. The uses of the receiver operating characteristic curve and the area under the curve are explained.

Keywords:
AUROC; negative likelihood ratio; negative predictive value; positive likelihood ratio; positive predictive value; ROC curve; sensitivity; specificity