Description: University of Washington Medicine lecture on evaluating diagnostic tests.
Link: Lecture video
Who created this resource: This is a video recording from the University of Washington (Seattle) Medical School of a Laboratory Medicine Grand Rounds lecture “Beyond ROC Curves: Recent Statistical Advances in the Evaluation of Diagnostic and Prognostic Tests”, given in 2008 by Dr. Amalia Magaret (PhD Biostatistics), Research Assistant Professor (now full Professor) in the Department of Laboratory Medicine.
What does this resource offer:
The first ~14 minutes of this ~53 minute lecture clearly explain the basic concepts of screening and diagnostic testing: sensitivity, specificity, false positives, false negatives, positive predictive value, ROC curves, area under the curve (AUC). She explains them first using a “toy” example and then again using a real example (testing for HSV2). The remainder of the lecture, up to ~41 minutes discusses more advanced topics: how to incorporate the financial costs into assessments of tests; how and why to adjust for additional factors such as demographics; and how to best compare two different tests or biomarkers. (The last ~12 minutes are audience Q&A.) The information is explained clearly, both in words and in the slide visuals. It is easy to stop and restart the video, or back up, as needed.