The ability of a screening test to correctly identify all true cases of disease in a population (not miss any cases) is best reflected by which property?

• A High specificity
• B High Negative Predictive Value
• C High sensitivity ✓
• D High Positive Predictive Value

Explanation

Sensitivity (true positive rate) measures the ability of a test to correctly detect all true disease cases; a highly sensitive test has few false negatives and is preferred for screening when missing cases is dangerous. A test with high sensitivity when negative effectively 'rules out' disease (SnNout mnemonic). Specificity identifies true negatives and is preferred for confirmatory tests.

Reference: Park's Textbook of Preventive and Social Medicine, 27th ed.

High-yield for: NEET PGINI-CETNExTFMGEUSMLEPLABMRCP

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