Translations:Advanced Field Epi:Manual 2 - Diagnostic Tests/78/en
If the assumption of conditional independence is violated then combined sensitivity (or specificity) will be biased. The "conditional" term relates to the fact that the independence (or lack of independence) is conditional on the disease status of the animal. Therefore sensitivities may be conditionally independent (or not) in diseased animals, while specificities may be conditionally independent (or not) in non-diseased animals.