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Fertility and menopause go hand in hand, and it is a well-known thing that fertility declines in the years just before the menopause, so predicting the age at which menopause is likely to begin is a very convenient thing.

As reported by a twelve year Iranian study of 266 women, a brand new test which measures a hormone called anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH) found it was possible to evaluate the age of menopause by measuring the levels of AMH.

AMH is made in the cells of the ovaries and controls the creation of follicles in the ovaries from which eggs develop.

The study was performed at Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Tehran and was led by Dr Fahimeh Ramezani Tehrani. In the study, 266 women aged between twenty and forty nine were monitored through blood samples and physical examinations at 3 year durations over a 12 year timeframe. Researchers then worked out a mathematical model for estimating the age at menopause from AMH levels in the blood. They found that using this system, they were able to predict the age at which women attained menopause to within a mean of just 4 months.

This would be particularly good for finding women who could possibly have an early menopause and who could then intend on having a family consequently.

The menopause test will not foresee when women could lose their fertility. Typically this transpires about a decade prior to menopause. However, if physicians have an idea of when women goes into menopause, they can evaluate more or less the time they will run out of eggs. Experts say the test could be particularly helpful in pinpointing women who may possibly go into the menopause early, for example, in their late 40s or earlier as opposed to their mid 50s.

But, we should also understand that there are other causes that can determine fertility including the partner's sperm and other medical conditions for instance scarred tubes, so the Menopause test ought not to be relied upon as the only predictor of a reduction in fertility.