Hormone level prediction in women can make family planning easier

Fertility researchers from the University Medical Centre Utrecht, the Netherlands, have said that the age-specific blood levels of the Anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH), which can predict when women will reach menopause, can make family planning easier.

Generally, women enter menopause between the age of forty and sixty. A woman's fertility, however, ends ten years prior to this and in the most unfavourable circumstances occurs around the age of thirty. With regard to family planning and a career, it is extremely valuable for women to know the expected length of their fertility.

The Dutch researchers linked AMH levels to the point when the women entered menopause and based on these data constructed a model to predict the menopausal age. Using age and AMH, the age range in which menopause will occur can be individually predicted.

The research was conducted under the leadership of gynecologists Professor Frank Broekmans and Professor Bart Fauser.

"Women often postpone having children until their career has been well established. However they may find that it is difficult to get pregnant at this time. It could therefore be very useful for women to know beforehand up to which age they remain fertile. As far as we know, we are the first researchers worldwide to succeed in making long term predictions for individual women," said gynaecologists.

The findings have been published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.