Acronym

AUC - Area Under Curve

Area Under Curve

Summary statistic of receiver operating characteristic curve; probability test correctly ranks random positive versus negative

Expansion

Area Under Curve

Purpose

Quantifies diagnostic accuracy across all thresholds

Clinical Context

Area under curve equals probability test correctly identifies positive versus negative. Ranges 0 to 1. Area under curve 0.5 equals random guessing, 1.0 equals perfect.

  • Receiver operating characteristic
  • Sensitivity

Key Points

  • Area under curve greater than 0.9 excellent diagnostic accuracy; less than 0.7 poor discriminatory ability