Glossary
To find a term, select the first letter of the word you are seeking or browse the complete glossary.
Search Glossary Term:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Need a definition? Please
S
Safety
A judgment of the acceptability of risk (a measure of the probability of an adverse outcome and its severity) associated with using a technology in a given situation, e.g., for a patient with a particular health problem, by a clinician with certain training, or in a specified treatment setting.
Sample size
The number of patients studied in a trial, including the treatment and control groups, where applicable. In general, a larger sample size decreases the probability of making a false-positive error (a) and increases the power of a trial, i.e., decreases the probability of making a false-negative error (b). Large sample sizes decrease the effect of random variation on the estimate of a treatment effect.
Sensitivity
An operating characteristic of a diagnostic test that measures the ability of a test to detect a disease (or condition) when it is truly present. Sensitivity is the proportion of all diseased patients for whom there is a positive test, determined as the number of true positives divided by the sum of true positives + false negatives. (Contrast with specificity.)
Sequelae
Conditions or events which follow, as a consequence of, a disease or injury.
Series
An uncontrolled study (prospective or retrospective) of a series (succession) of consecutive patients who receive a particular intervention and are followed to observe their outcomes. (Also known as clinical series or series of consecutive cases.)
Sleep disorders
Disturbances of usual sleep patterns or behaviors.
Specificity
An operating characteristic of a diagnostic test that measures the ability of a test to exclude the presence of a disease (or condition) when it is truly not present. Specificity is the proportion of nondiseased patients for whom there is a correctly negative test, expressed as the number of true negatives divided by the sum of true negatives + false positives. (Contrast with sensitivity.)
Statistical significance
A conclusion that an intervention has a true effect, based upon observed differences in outcomes between the treatment and control groups that are sufficiently large so that these differences are unlikely to have occurred due to chance, as determined by a statistical test. Statistical significance indicates the probability that the observed difference was due to chance if the null hypothesis is true; it does not provide information about the magnitude of a treatment effect. (Statistical significance is necessary but not sufficient for clinical significance.)
Still birth
The birth of a dead fetus.
Stress
The sum of the biological reactions to any adverse stimulus, physical, mental or emotional, internal or external, that tends to disturb a person's normal state of well-being.
Substance abuse/dependency
The abuse, overuse, or misuse of legal or illegal drugs (including alcohol).
Supine
Lying on the back.
