When Will You Hit Menopause? Blood Test May Tell You!!!

Researchers may have found a way to predict the inevitable time when childbearing years have ended and hot flashes become a daily occurrence.

Using a simple blood test, Dr. Fahimeh Ramezani Tehrani and her colleagues have developed a way to determine when a woman will reach menopause -- important information for those who plan to start a family.

To find these results, the researchers took blood samples of 266 women ages 20-49. With these samples, they measured concentrations of the hormone produced by the cells in a woman's ovaries known as anti-Mullerian hormone or AMH, which controls the development of follicles in the ovaries where eggs grow.

The researchers also took blood samples at three yearly intervals and gathered information on the women's socioeconomic status and reproductive history. The women also had physical exams every three years.

From a single measurement of AMH, Tehrani and the other researchers estimated the average age of menopause for women in the study to be about 52, and they identified a model for AMH levels that predicts if a woman is likely to experience early menopause (before the age of 45).

"The results from our study could enable us to make a more realistic assessment of women's reproductive status many years before they reach menopause," Tehrani, president of the Reproductive Endocrinology Department of the Endocrine Research Center, said in a statement. "For example, if a 20-year-old woman has a concentration of serum AMH of 2.8 ng/ml [nanograms per milliliter], we estimate that she will become menopausal between 35-38 years old."

The average difference between the predicted age and the actual age women in the study reached menopause was one-third of a year, with the maximum error being between three and four years.

This is the first study to determine this age prediction using a population-based study.

"Our findings indicate that AMH is capable of specifying a woman's reproductive status more realistically than chronological age per se," Tehrani said, which is important knowledge for doctors in helping women with family planning.

Although these results are promising, more research should be conducted involving more women over a longer period of time, Tehrani said.

Tehrani will present this study at the 26th annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Rome, Italy.

Don't Forget To Subscribe