New Test For Fertility And Menopause Forecasting When Menopause Commences And When Fertility Will Begin To Decrease

 

Fertility and menopause go hand in hand, and it is an acknowledged thing that fertility reduces in the years that precede the menopause, so predicting the age at which menopause is likely to commence is a very helpful thing.

As shown by a 12 year Iranian study of 266 women, a novel test which measures a hormone called anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH) detected it was probable to determine the age of menopause by evaluating the levels of AMH.

AMH is manufactured in the cellular material of the ovaries and handles the development of follicles in the ovaries from which eggs generate.

The study was carried out at Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Tehran and was led by Dr Fahimeh Ramezani Tehrani. In the study, 266 women aged from twenty and forty nine were followed through blood samples and physical examinations at three yearly durations over a 12 year duration. Researchers then worked out a mathematical model for estimating the age at menopause from AMH levels in the blood. They discovered that using this system, they were able to predict the age at which women reached menopause to within an average of just 4 months.

This method could very well be particularly useful for selecting women who could have an early menopause and who could then intend on building a family accordingly.

The menopause test will not forecast when women could lose their fertility. Usually this takes place about a decade prior to menopause. But, if physicians know the time women will go into menopause, they can compute more or less when they will run out of eggs. Researchers say the test could be extremely beneficial in determining women who might go into the menopause early, for instance, in their late 40s or earlier rather than their mid 50s.

Nevertheless, we should also be aware that there are other aspects that can impact fertility including the partner's sperm and other medical complications for example scarred tubes, so the Menopause test should not be relied on as the single predictor of decreasing fertility.