Fifteen studies (n=32 to 268, where reported) were included in the review. These studies assessed a wide variety of superior labral anterior-posterior shoulder tear tests. Only one study met all five validity criteria.
Nine studies reported specificities and sensitivities greater than 75%, four studies reported sensitivities less than 75% and three reported specificities less than 75%. One study did not report sensitivity and two did not report specificity. Reported sensitivities (36 data sets) ranged from 4 to 100%. Reported specificities (34 data sets) ranged from 11 to 100%.
The one study that met all five validity criteria compared Speed and Yergason’s tests individually with the surgical reference standard and found that in both cases confidence intervals for positive and negative likelihood ratios crossed 1, which indicated that the results of these tests did not significantly change the probability of a patient having or not having a superior labral anterior-posterior tear.