Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 10, 2025

Split Point Analysis and Uncertainty Quantification of Thermal-Optical Organic/Elemental Carbon Measurements
Published on: September 7, 2019
APS calculator: a data-driven tool for setting outcome-based analytical performance specifications for measurement
Hikmet Can Çubukçu1,2, Florent Vanstapel3,4, Marc Thelen5,6
1General Directorate of Health Services, Rare Diseases Department, Turkish Ministry of Health, Ankara, Türkiye.
Objectives:
According to ISO 15189:2022, analytical performance specifications (APS) should relate to intended clinical use and impact on patient care. Therefore, we aimed to develop a web application for laboratory professionals to calculate APS based on a simulation of the impact of measurement uncertainty (MU) on the outcome using the chosen decision limits, agreement thresholds, and data of the population of interest.
Methods:
We developed the "APS Calculator" allowing users to upload and select data of concern, specify decision limits and agreement thresholds, and conduct simulations to determine APS for MU. The simulation involved categorizing original measurand concentrations, generating measured (simulated) results by introducing different degrees of MU, and recategorizing measured concentrations based on clinical decision limits and acceptable clinical misclassification rates. The agreements between original and simulated result categories were assessed, and values that met or exceeded user-specified agreement thresholds that set goals for the between-category agreement were considered acceptable. The application generates contour plots of agreement rates and corresponding MU values. We tested the application using National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data, with decision limits from relevant guidelines.
Results:
We determined APS for MU of six measurands (blood total hemoglobin, plasma fasting glucose, serum total and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, and total folate) to demonstrate the potential of the application to generate APS.
Conclusions:
The developed data-driven web application offers a flexible tool for laboratory professionals to calculate APS for MU using their chosen decision limits and agreement thresholds, and the data of the population of interest.
More Related Videos
16:23Automated, Quantitative Cognitive/Behavioral Screening of Mice: For Genetics, Pharmacology, Animal Cognition and Undergraduate Instruction
Published on: February 26, 2014
11:30A Semi-Automated and Reproducible Biological-Based Method to Quantify Calcium Deposition In Vitro
Published on: June 2, 2022
Related Concept Videos
Uncertainty: Overview
Statistical Analysis: Overview
One of the most commonly used statistical quantifiers is the mean, which is the ratio between the sum of the numerical values of all results and the...
Uncertainty in Measurement: Accuracy and Precision
Uncertainty in Measurement: Reading Instruments
Propagation of Uncertainty from Random Error
Significant Figures in Calculations