Test Calibration
Because tests can be incorrect (yielding a false-negative or a false-positive), results should be interpreted in the context of the history, physical findings, and other test results in the individual being tested. It is within this context that the sensitivity and specificity of the "gold standard" test is determined.
When the gold standard is not a perfect one, its sensitivity and specificity must be calibrated against more accurate tests or against the definition of the condition. This calibration is especially important when a perfect test is available only by autopsy. It's important to emphasize that a test has to meet some interobservers agreement, to avoid some bias induced by the study itself.(Complications and Validity of Pulmonary Angiography in Acute Pulmonary Embolism Circulation 1992;85:462-468 )
Calibration errors can lead to misdiagnosis.
Read more about this topic: Gold Standard (test)
Famous quotes containing the word test:
“The face we see was never young,
Nor could it ever have been old.
For he, to whom we had applied
Our shopman’s test of age and worth,
Was elemental when he died,
As he was ancient at his birth:”
—Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869–1935)