{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,10]],"date-time":"2026-03-10T04:09:16Z","timestamp":1773115756753,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":22,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,8,1]],"date-time":"2020-08-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1596240000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Mathematics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Sample size calculation in biomedical practice is typically based on the problematic Wald method for a binomial proportion, with potentially dangerous consequences. This work highlights the need of incorporating the concept of conditional probability in sample size determination to avoid reduced sample sizes that lead to inadequate confidence intervals. Therefore, new definitions are proposed for coverage probability and expected length of confidence intervals for conditional probabilities, like sensitivity and specificity. The new definitions were used to assess seven confidence interval estimation methods. In order to determine the sample size, two procedures\u2014an optimal one, based on the new definitions, and an approximation\u2014were developed for each estimation method. Our findings confirm the similarity of the approximated sample sizes to the optimal ones. R code is provided to disseminate these methodological advances and translate them into biomedical practice.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/math8081258","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,8,3]],"date-time":"2020-08-03T03:16:46Z","timestamp":1596424606000},"page":"1258","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Common Medical and Statistical Problems: The Dilemma of the Sample Size Calculation for Sensitivity and Specificity Estimation"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"8","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5234-3713","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"M. Ros\u00e1rio","family":"Oliveira","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Mathematics and CEMAT, Instituto Superior T\u00e9cnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Ana","family":"Subtil","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Mathematics and CEMAT, Instituto Superior T\u00e9cnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9710-1945","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Luzia","family":"Gon\u00e7alves","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unidade de Sa\u00fade P\u00fablica Internacional e Bioestat\u00edstica, Global Health and Tropical Medicine, Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Universidade Nova de Lisboa and Centro de Estat\u00edstica e Aplica\u00e7\u00f5es da Universidade de Lisboa, Rua da Junqueira, 100, 1349-008 Lisbon, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,8,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Altman, D., Machin, D., Bryant, T., and Gardner, M. (2000). Statistics with Confidence. 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