Definition of False positive

The present is a concept that is made up of two terms that refer to a scenario of truth that does not end up being and such and that is usually applied in various contexts such as the statistics, on computing, in medicine, among the most common.

A result that proposes truthfulness where there is none as a consequence of the succession of some error of contemplation or resources, and that usually occurs in fields such as medicine, computer science and statistics

On statistics and at the request of a investigation, It is called a false positive to that error in which is incurred when the researcher rejects the call hypothesis null (that hypothesis that is created with the mission of rejecting and therefore supporting an alternative hypothesis), being in effect and on the contrary valid in the population that is studied.

On the other hand, in Computing, we speak of a false positive when the error occurs by which an anti virus software or program tells us that a certain file, or failing that, an area of ​​the system is infected, while reality indicates that the program or area is free of virus infection.

This situation will cause us problems since of course we usually trust our anti virus system that tells us that there is no virus, and as a consequence the computer will continue to be infected and that virus will not only be there, affecting the functioning of our equipment but it could spread and cause more serious complications in everything that we have stored in the computer.

On the other hand, also in the field of medicine we find a reference for the concept in question... here the error that results after carrying out a test is called false positive. complementary test or test, blood and urine tests, among others, that is, the result indicates the presence of a disease, or the state from pregnancy of a woman, when in fact there is not.

In the last example we mentioned, that of pregnancy, it is common for those women who are subjected to assisted fertilization treatments to suffer a false positive in the subsequent results as a consequence of the use of some hormones, then, when the analysis is carried out, it shows positive when in reality it is not and the woman may not be pregnant.

When a woman is trying to get pregnant for months and she does not succeed, of course her anxiety will be on the surface and many times will lead her to commit mistakes, anticipate the times that are stipulated to perform the pregnancy tests, and then in that eagerness and desire you can fall into the famous false positive.

And it also happens a lot, as we have already said, in cases of assisted fertilization, as a consequence of the use of hormones that can be confusing, especially those rapid pregnancy tests that are sold in the pharmacy.

Although in recent years, laboratories have worked a lot to increase the reliability of these Rather home tests, which are done at home or anywhere, through urine, and placing a toothpick reactive to hormone HCG indicator of pregnancy, there are still errors that have to do, as we said, the use of hormones in the treatments and also with the anxiety of some women who perform the analysis poorly and can obtain positive results incorrect.

It is always advisable to wait for the normal periods of delay of menstruation, about a week, to perform the home tests or the blood test, beta subunit, which is undoubtedly the most infallible that exists when it comes to predicting the existence or not of pregnancy.

And in cases where a woman has undergone a fertilization treatment, two blood tests can be performed to reconfirm the result.