The validity of the postcoital test

Abstract

Opinion is divided on the clinical usefulness of the postcoital (Sims-Huhner) test in diagnosing infertility. To evaluate the validity of this test, we reviewed the world's literature in English and calculated four indexes of validity for each study with sufficient information. The sensitivity of the test ranged from 0.09 to 0.71, specificity from 0.62 to 1.00, predictive value of abnormal from 0.56 to 1.00, and predictive value of normal from 0.25 to 0.75. In addition to the problem of poor validity, the test suffers from a lack of standard methodology, lack of a uniform definition of normal, and unknown reproducibility. The postcoital test lacks validity as a test for infertility.