New Blood Test May Predict Start Of Menopause And Fertility Decline
A simple blood test may be available to help women know when they are approaching menopause. According to collaborating scientists from medical centers in Australia and the Netherlands, measuring blood levels of anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH), a reproductive hormone secreted by the ovaries, can estimate how close a woman is to entering menopause.
Follicle cells in the ovaries produce AMH to nurture and to stimulate egg production. The number of follicles within each ovary is directly linked to AMH levels in the blood and to fertility. The more follicles present, the higher the AMH blood level and the greater the chance a woman has at conceiving.
Scientists began looking at anti-Mullerian hormone as predictor for menopause because the ovaries secrete the hormone at a constant rate during a woman’s monthly cycle, levels appear to drop with age and AMH is not affected by oral contraception. The current study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism compared the levels of AMH in 144 premenopausal women with more than 3,000 postmenopausal women to come up with a statistical curve to estimate when a women enters menopause based on AMH measurements.
