Blood test predicts change - researchers

Monday June 28th, 2010

A blood test may be able to predict the date of a woman's "change" to an accuracy of just four months, a conference was to be told today.

The test could be used to help young women plan their families - as they would know when they were likely to lose fertility, researchers said.

Details of the new test were being unveiled at the conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Rome, Italy.

The test has been developed in Tehran, Iran, and involves measuring a hormone called anti-Mullerian Hormone - or AMH.

Researchers obtained access to blood samples from some 266 women aged 20 to 49 taking part in a study of cholesterol and blood glucose levels.

Researcher Dr Ramezani Tehrani, of the Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, said the researchers had been able to make detailed charts of AMH levels, which can be used at different ages to predict age of menopause.

The research says the test is accurate on average to four months - and has a margin of error of no more than four years.

She said: "We believe that our estimates of ages at menopause based on AMH levels are of sufficient validity to guide medical practitioners in their day-to-day practice, so that they can help women with their family planning.

She said the findings were based on a "small study" and needed long-term research.

She added: "Our findings indicate that AMH is capable of specifying a woman's reproductive status more realistically than chronological age per se."

Tags: Asia | Childbirth and Pregnancy | Women’s Health & Gynaecology

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