Key STARD terminology
| Term | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Medical test | Any method for collecting additional information about the current or future health status of a patient |
| Index test | The test under evaluation |
| Target condition | The disease or condition that the index test is expected to detect |
| Clinical reference standard | The best available method for establishing the presence or absence of the target condition. A gold standard would be an error-free reference standard |
| Sensitivity | Proportion of those with the target condition who test positive with the index test |
| Specificity | Proportion of those without the target condition who test negative with the index test |
| Intended use of the test | Whether the index test is used for diagnosis, screening, staging, monitoring, surveillance, prediction, prognosis or other reasons |
| Role of the test | The position of the index test relative to other tests for the same condition (eg, triage, replacement, add-on, new test) |
| Indeterminate results | Results that are neither positive or negative |