True or False? Reliability refers to the ability of a measuring instrument to give consistent results on
repeated trials, regardless of its accuracy. - Answers True
A new screening test for Lyme disease is developed for use in the general population. The sensitivity and
specificity of the new test are 60% and 70%, respectively. Three hundred people are screened at a clinic
during the first year the new test is implemented. Assume the true prevalence of Lyme disease among
clinic attendees is 10%.
Calculate the following value
The predictive value of a positive test is: - Answers 18.2%
True or False? Sensitivity refers to the ability of a screening test to correctly identify all screened
individuals who have a disease. - Answers True
A new antibody test detects serum antibodies against virus X (sensitivity 99%, specificity 90%). When
applied in a group of hospitalized patients diagnosed as having virus X infections, the test is found to
have a positive predictive value of 85%. When used to screen a group of healthy blood donors for virus X
infections, the test is found to have a positive predictive value of 30%. Which of the following best
explains this difference between the positive predictive values? - Answers The prevalence of virus X
infection is higher among the hospital patients than among blood donors
True or False? Specificity refers to the ability of a screening test to identify only nondiseased individuals
who actually do not have the disease. - Answers True
A new screening test for Lyme disease is developed for use in the general population. The sensitivity and
specificity of the new test are 60% and 70%, respectively. Three hundred people are screened at a clinic
during the first year the new test is implemented. Assume the true prevalence of Lyme disease among
clinic attendees is 10%.
Calculate the following value
The number of false positives is: - Answers 81
The degree of agreement among several trained experts refers to: - Answers inter-judge reliability
A screening examination was performed on 250 persons for Factor X, which is found in disease Y. A
definitive diagnosis for disease Y among the 250 persons had been obtained previously. The results are
charted below: The sensitivity of this test is expressed as: - Answers 80%
Sensitivity and specificity of a screening test refer to its: - Answers Validity
True or False? Validity is the ability of a measuring instrument to give a true measure. - Answers True
, A test that determines whether disease is actually present is a: - Answers diagnostic test
A screening examination was performed on 250 persons for Factor X, which is found in disease Y. A
definitive diagnosis for disease Y among the 250 persons had been obtained previously. The results are
charted below: The specificity of this test is expressed as: - Answers 70%
True or False? Incubation period refers to the time between the start of an infection and the beginning
of the period of communicability. - Answers False
True or False? Herd immunity must be 100% to confer protection to a group. - Answers False
True or False? The presence of an infectious agent is a sufficient cause for outbreaks of infectious
disease to occur. - Answers False
An attack rate is an alternative incidence rate that is used when: - Answers All the above
Schistosomiasis is an example of: - Answers biological agents-helminth
True or False? An enzootic disease among animals is similar to an endemic disease among humans. -
Answers True
A person with an inapparent infection: - Answers can transmit the infection to others
True or False? Antigenicity of an infectious agent is measured by the secondary attack rate. - Answers
False
Which of the following examples involves indirect transmission of disease? - Answers A and B
True or False? Physical environmental factors in the natural history of disease include weather,
temperature, and biologic components. - Answers False
True or False? If a disease is fatal, virulence can be measured by the case fatality rate. - Answers True
An outbreak of salmonellosis occurred after an epidemiology department luncheon, which was attended
by 485 faculty and staff. Assume everyone ate the same food items. Sixty-five people had fever and
diarrhea, five of these people were severely affected. Subsequent laboratory tests on everyone who
attended the luncheon revealed an additional 72 cases.
The attack rate of salmonellosis was: - Answers 28.2%
What factors comprise the epidemiologic triangle? - Answers All of the above
The death rate per 100,000 for lung cancer is 7 among non-smokers and 71 among smokers. The death
rate per 100,000 for coronary thrombosis is 422 among non-smokers and 599 among smokers. The
prevalence of smoking in the population is 55%.
The population etiologic fraction of disease due to smoking is: - Answers 0.83 for lung cancer and 0.18
for coronary thrombosis.