II. Definitions
- Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC)
- Graphical representation of balance between Test Sensitivity and Test Specificity
- Test Criterion
- Threshold for which a test is considered positive
- A Screening Test may set the test criterion low to minimize False Negatives (at the expense of increased False Positives)
- A confirmatory test may set the test criterion high to minimize False Positives (at the expense of increased False Negatives)
III. Technique
- Given a range of test criteria (from low threshold to high threshold)
- Identify the Test Sensitivity and Test Specificity at each of the test criteria
- For each test criteria, plot the Test Sensitivity and 1-Test Specificity
- True Positive Rate (Test Sensitivity)
- Plot on Y axis
- False Positive Rate (1-Test Specificity)
- Plot on X axis
- True Positive Rate (Test Sensitivity)
IV. Interpretation
- Identify the Shoulder or inflection point in the curve as the optimal threshold
- Best tests have maximal area under the curve (AUC)
- Most distinct, highest inflection point best distinguishes between positive and negative test
- Poor tests, have no inflection point
- Flat, linear relationship between Test Sensitivity and 1-Test Specificity at various test criteria
V. Resources
- Receiver Operating Characteristic (Wikipedia)
VI. References
- Desai (2014) Clinical Decision Making, AMIA’s CIBRC Online Course
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| Definition (MSH) | A graphic means for assessing the ability of a screening test to discriminate between healthy and diseased persons; may also be used in other studies, e.g., distinguishing stimuli responses as to a faint stimuli or nonstimuli. |
| Concepts | Quantitative Concept (T081) |
| MSH | D012372 |
| English | Analyses, ROC, Analysis, ROC, Curve, ROC, Curves, ROC, ROC Analyses, ROC Analysis, ROC Curve, ROC Curves, ROC ANAL, ANAL ROC, roc curve, roc analysis |
| Swedish | ROC-kurvanalys |
| Czech | ROC křivka |
| Finnish | ROC-käyrä |
| French | Analyse ROC, Courbe ROC (Receiver Operating Characteristic), Courbe ROC |
| Russian | SKRININGA OTSENOCHNAIA KRIVAIA, RABOCHIE KHARAKTERISTIKI, ANALIZ, RKH-ANALIZ, РАБОЧИЕ ХАРАКТЕРИСТИКИ, АНАЛИЗ, РХ-АНАЛИЗ, СКРИНИНГА ОЦЕНОЧНАЯ КРИВАЯ |
| Japanese | ROC分析, 受信者動作特性曲線, 受信者特性曲線, 受信者動作特性, 受信者操作特性曲線, 等感受性曲線, ROC解析, ROC曲線 |
| Italian | Analisi ROC, Curva ROC |
| Polish | Krzywa ROC, Charakterystyka skuteczności percepcji |
| Norwegian | ROC-analyse, ROC-kurveanalyse |
| German | ROC-Analyse, ROC-Kurve |
| Dutch | ROC-analyse, ROC-curve |
| Portuguese | Análise ROC, Curva ROC |
| Spanish | Análisis ROC, Curva ROC |
