- Cost-effectiveness analysis
An economic analysis that converts effects into health terms and describes the costs for additional health gain.
- Decision modelling
A mathematical construct that allows the comparison of the relationship between costs and outcomes of alternative health-care interventions.
- False-negative
Incorrect negative test result – number of diseased persons with a negative test result.
- False-positive
Incorrect positive test result – number of non-diseased persons with a positive test result.
- Incremental cost-effectiveness ratio
The difference in the mean costs of two interventions in the population of interest divided by the difference in the mean outcomes in the population of interest.
- Index test
The test whose performance is being evaluated.
- Likelihood ratio
Likelihood ratios describe how many times more likely it is that a person with the target condition will receive a particular test result than a person without the target condition.
- Markov model
An analytic method particularly suited to modelling repeated events, or the progression of a chronic disease over time.
- Meta-analysis
Statistical techniques used to combine the results of two or more studies and obtain a combined estimate of effect.
- Meta-regression
Statistical technique used to explore the relationship between study characteristics and study results.
- Opportunity costs
The cost of forgone outcomes that could have been achieved through alternative investments.
- Publication bias
Bias arising from the preferential publication of studies with statistically significant results.
- Quality-adjusted life-year
A measure of health gain, used in economic evaluations, in which survival duration is weighted or adjusted by the patient’s quality of life during the survival period.
- Quality of life
An individual’s emotional, social and physical well-being and their ability to perform the ordinary tasks of living.
- Receiver operating characteristic curve
A graph that illustrates the trade-offs between sensitivity and specificity which result from varying the diagnostic threshold.
- Reference standard
The best currently available method for diagnosing the target condition. The index test is compared against this to allow calculation of estimates of accuracy.
- Sensitivity
Proportion of people with the target disorder who have a positive test result.
- Specificity
Proportion of people without the target disorder who have a negative test result.
- True-negative
Correct negative test result – number of non-diseased persons with a negative test result.
- True-positive
Correct positive test result – number of diseased persons with a positive test result.
