Which consequence is associated with low test specificity?

Which consequence is associated with low test specificity?

• A. Many false negatives.
• B. High PPV.
• C. High sensitivity.
• D. Many false positives.

Answer: (D)

Specificity is about correctly identifying people who do not have the disease; it measures how well a test avoids false positives. When specificity is low, a larger share of healthy individuals test positive, so there are many false positives. That direct consequence is what low specificity produces. False negatives come from low sensitivity, not low specificity, and high PPV or high sensitivity describe different performance aspects that aren’t the immediate result of low specificity.

Specificity is about correctly identifying people who do not have the disease; it measures how well a test avoids false positives. When specificity is low, a larger share of healthy individuals test positive, so there are many false positives. That direct consequence is what low specificity produces. False negatives come from low sensitivity, not low specificity, and high PPV or high sensitivity describe different performance aspects that aren’t the immediate result of low specificity.