Hormone level linked with onset of menopause

The study followed 257 healthy women for 11 years.

The study findings
The study was conducted by gynaecologists Bart Fauser and Frank broekmans, professors at the University Medical Center Utrecht in The Netherlands.

The researchers found that the level of Anti-Mullerian hormone allows the scientists to predict the start of menopause, a stage which marks the beginning of infertility in women.

They constructed a model based on the data gathered during the study which was able to predict the start of menopause in individual women using the age and AMH level of the women.

The researchers said that this knowledge about the early onset of infertility period will enable these women to exercise the option of having their eggs frozen, which can be used later on.

This will allow these women to get pregnant even if they discover that they cannot conceive naturally.

The researchers said, “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.”

Study helpful for women
Anti-Mullerian hormone or AMH is a protein that is produced in the ovarian follicles that are the main units of female reproductive system.

AMH is the hormone behind the onset of menopause in women. The study found that the start of menopause can now be predicted by measuring the level of this hormone in blood.

Generally, women enter the menopause between the ages of 40 to 60, but a women’s fertility ends 10 year prior to this. In some extreme cases, this stage can start as early as at the age of 30.

Menopause can also occur due to some other reasons like chemotherapy or a surgery or even for no obvious reason.

It can be shattering for a woman to be informed suddenly about the loss of her ability to become pregnant.

The information about this stage is very important from the point of view of family planning and also the career of a woman.