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Sensitivity, Specificity, Prevalence, and Disease Stage
The Editors welcome submissions for possible publication in the Letters section. Authors of letters should:
•Include no more than 300 words of text, three authors, and five references
•Type with double-spacing
•Send three copies of the letter, an authors' form signed by all authors, and a cover letter describing any conflicts of interest related to the contents of the letter.
Letters commenting on an Annals article will be considered if they are received within 6 weeks of the time the article was published. Only some of the letters received can be published. Published letters are edited and may be shortened; tables and figures are included only selectively. Authors will be notified that the letter has been received. If the letter is selected for publication, the author will be notified about 3 weeks before the publication date. Unpublished letters cannot be returned.
Annals welcomes electronically submitted letters.
TO THE EDITOR:
When discussing the new diagnostic tests for sexually transmitted Chlamydia trachomatis infection, Stamm [1] writes that “Although none of these tests is as sensitive or specific as high-quality cultures for chlamydia, all have reasonable sensitivity (70% to 90%) and specificity (96% to 99%) in groups where the prevalence of chlamydial infection exceeds 8% to 10%.” Sensitivity is defined as the percentage of diseased patients who are correctly identified as positive by a test. Specificity is the percentage of disease-free patients who are correctly identified as negative [2]. These test characteristics are not affected by the prevalence of disease. The author must have been referring instead to the predictive value of a positive test result and the predictive value of a negative test result, both of which vary according to the prevalence of disease in the population in which the test is applied.
John Terrell Redd, MD
College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University; New York, NY 10032
The Editors welcome submissions for possible publication in the Letters section. Authors of letters should:
•Include no more than 300 words of text, three authors, and five references
•Type with double-spacing
•Send three copies of the letter, an authors' form signed by all authors, and a cover letter describing any conflicts of interest related to the contents of the letter.
Letters commenting on an Annals article will be considered if they are received within 6 weeks of the time the article was published. Only some of the letters received can be published. Published letters are edited and may be shortened; tables and figures are included only selectively. Authors will be notified that the letter has been received. If the letter is selected for publication, the author will be notified about 3 weeks before the publication date. Unpublished letters cannot be returned.
Annals welcomes electronically submitted letters.
- Copyright ©2004 by the American College of Physicians
