Journal of clinical epidemiology
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Review
Diagnostic test accuracy may vary with prevalence: implications for evidence-based diagnosis.
Several studies and systematic reviews have reported results that indicate that sensitivity and specificity may vary with prevalence. ⋯ Sensitivity and specificity may vary in different clinical populations, and prevalence is a marker for such differences. Clinicians are advised to base their decisions on studies that most closely match their own clinical situation, using prevalence to guide the detection of differences in study population or study design.