False Positive

A false positive is a term used to describe the proportion of positives in a group that were assessed incorrectly (assessed as positive when the patient was actually negative). Although most tests/assessments result in either a positive or negative, the accuracy of a test is dependent on the number of positives and negatives that are correct. Therefore, when the accuracy of a test is determined, there are 4 possible results, because a positive or negative result could be right (true) or wrong (false).