An epidemiologist calculates the positive predictive value (PPV) of a malaria RDT in a low-transmission setting where malaria prevalence is 1%. The RD...

Question

An epidemiologist calculates the positive predictive value (PPV) of a malaria RDT in a low-transmission setting where malaria prevalence is 1%. The RDT has 95% sensitivity and 95% specificity. What is the approximate PPV?

Accepted Answer

Approximately 16% - in low-prevalence settings, even highly specific tests have a low PPV due to the overwhelming number of true negatives generating a significant absolute number of false positives

Answer

95%

Answer

50%

Answer

100%

Answer

0%

uk-dtmh MCQ (SBA): PPV in Low Prevalence

An epidemiologist calculates the positive predictive value (PPV) of a malaria RDT in a low-transmission setting where malaria prevalence is 1%. The RDT has 95% sensitivity and 95% specificity. What is the approximate PPV?