I got an antibody test. What does it mean?
by James Chenoweth, MD MAS Disclaimer: I am not a statistician. I studied biostatistics during my master's program and have continued to study interpretation of medical research. I have avoided fractional positive/negative rates because they cause confusion and do not change the general principles discussed. Each test has its own test statistics and you should review those to help you interpret your results. There has been a lot of recent focus on antibody testing for possible prior infection with SARS-CoV-2. Non-random sampling of several populations has suggested that the numbers of confirmed cases may be significantly undercounting the actual number of infections. If true, this could be good news. For one, it would suggest that the actual mortality number may be markedly lower than the current case fatality rates. It would also mean that a portion of the population could now be immune. However, before we get too excited, I think it is important to understand what these te