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Specificity

By Elizabeth Boskey, Ph.D., About.com

Updated: May 13, 2008

About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by our Medical Review Board

Definition: How accurately a test detects people who do not have a disease.

If 100 people are free from a disease, then a test that is 98% specific will correctly tell 98 of those people that they are not infected and will incorrectly tell 2 people that they have the disease when they do not. Compare to: sensitivity

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