Researchers design studies that might disprove what’s called their null hypothesis – the opposite of the claim they’re interested in exploring.
Articles on False positive
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The new lung cancer screening program needs to be independently evaluated to keep it on track, and to minimise the harms.
A man in the Northern Territory recently received a “weak positive” test result for COVID-19. Understanding how coronavirus tests work shows us why this can happen from time to time.
Understanding terms like sensitivity and specificity can help us make sense of COVID-19 testing, the accuracy of tests and what the results mean.
Testing large numbers of people regularly would reduce the spread of the coronavirus in the US. Laboratory testing is slow and expensive, but rapid screening tests could be the answer.
To control the COVID-19 pandemic through random testing would require about 6.5 million test a day. Using group testing and machine learning could get that number down to fewer than 40,000 day.
As we start to test people without symptoms for COVID-19, the likelihood of generating false positive tests goes up. Here’s why that’s a problem.
Expanding coronavirus testing is one of the most important tasks public health officials are tackling right now. But questions over accuracy of the two main types of tests have rightly caused concern.
A test that tells you with 94% accuracy that you have had coronavirus seems like a game-changer…until you do the maths.
More people are sending off saliva samples to find out about their genetic roots. But the raw DNA results go way beyond genealogical data – and could deliver unintended consequences.
Unfortunately, there is no net benefit-ometer for breast cancer screening.
Top contributors
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Epidemiologist, WHO Collaborating Centre for Viral Hepatitis, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity
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Associate Professor of Community Health Sciences, Boston University
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Professor of Mathematical Biology and Public Engagement, University of Bath
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Director, WHO Collaborating Centre for Viral Hepatitis, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity
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Associate Professor of Biology, Rochester Institute of Technology
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Scientia Professor of Economics, UNSW
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PhD Candidate, Epidemiology, Queen's University, Ontario
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Associate Professor of Public Policy, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
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Epidemiologist, WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza
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Professor of Clinical Epidemiology, Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney
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NHMRC Emerging Leader Research Fellow, School of Public Health, University of Sydney
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Professor of General Practice, Bond University
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Senior Lecturer in Philosophy of Public Health, University of Cambridge
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Assistant Research Professor of Health Policy and Administration, Penn State