Interference by vitamin C on certain reagent strip pads is an example of which test characteristic?

Interference by vitamin C on certain reagent strip pads is an example of which test characteristic?

• A. Sensitivity
• B. Specificity
• C. Accuracy
• D. Precision

Answer: (B)

Interference from substances like vitamin C affects the reactions on urine reagent strip pads in a way that can produce a positive color change even when the target analyte isn’t present. This creates false positives, which reduces the test’s ability to correctly identify true negatives. Specificity is about how well a test avoids false positives, so vitamin C interference is an example of decreased specificity. Sensitivity, on the other hand, concerns detecting true positives and is more about false negatives. Accuracy and precision relate to how close results are to the true value and how repeatable they are, respectively, but the vitamin C effect described here mainly undermines the test’s specificity.

Interference from substances like vitamin C affects the reactions on urine reagent strip pads in a way that can produce a positive color change even when the target analyte isn’t present. This creates false positives, which reduces the test’s ability to correctly identify true negatives. Specificity is about how well a test avoids false positives, so vitamin C interference is an example of decreased specificity.

Sensitivity, on the other hand, concerns detecting true positives and is more about false negatives. Accuracy and precision relate to how close results are to the true value and how repeatable they are, respectively, but the vitamin C effect described here mainly undermines the test’s specificity.