THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE POSTCOITAL TEST AND SEMEN CHARACTERISTICS TO PREGNANCY RATES IN 200 PRESUMED FERTILE COUPLES

Objective-To evaluate the postcoital test (PCT) and semen analysis (SA ) in the prediction of pregnancy in 200 potentially fertile couples. M ethods-200 couples without risk for infertility were prospectively fol lowed for 1 year. Couples were attempting pregnancy for 12 menstrual c ycles. In the first three cycles, the women underwent monthly PCTs and collected daily urines while the men provided bimonthly semen analyse s. For the next nine cycles, the couples were monitored for pregnancy. The PCT included hours post-coitus, amount of mucus, spinnbarkeit, nu mber of motile sperm, and percent of motile sperm. Since multiple PCTs and SAs were available for each couple, values were averaged to provi de one mean value per couple. The Wilcoxon ranked sum test was used to detect differences in PCT and SA. Results-Pregnancy occurred in 163/2 00 couples (82%) in 12 cycles. Mean sperm count per high-power field ( p = 0.01) and mean number of highly motile sperm (p = 0.03) were highe r among women in whom pregnancy occurred. Amount of mucus and spinnbar keit were similar between women who became pregnant and those who did not. Semen concentration, motile sperm count, and percent motile sperm were significantly higher among men whose partner conceived (P <.02). Only 93 couples (47%) had PCTs that were correctly timed. Conclusions -Measures predictive of pregnancy included vigorously moving sperm per high-power field, sperm concentration, motile sperm count, and percen t motiliy. Mucus characteristics were not predictive of pregnancy. Add itionally, a high number of sperm seen in the PCT correlated with a hi gh number of motile sperm in the SA. These results support the use of the PCT for initial evaluation of the infertile couple.