Age at menopause predicted by hormone levels

According to researchers, anti-Müllerian hormone may be a more accurate determinant of a woman’s reproductive age, compared with chronological age alone.

Researchers from Australia and the Netherlands analyzed anti-Müllerian hormone levels in 144 fertile female volunteers aged 25 to 46 years to establish an estimate of mean anti-Müllerian hormone as a function of age. The researchers then used data from 3,384 women aged 50 to 70 years who participated in the Prospect-EPIC study to estimate the distribution of age at the onset of menopause.

The researchers found a decrease in mean anti-Müllerian hormone levels that occurs after age 30 years, concluding that anti-Müllerian hormone is only related to declining ovary reserve after this age. According to the EPIC data, the mean age for women who experienced menopause was 50.4 years.

According to the researchers, the distribution of age at menopause was related to their predicted distribution, based on an age-related decline in anti-Müllerian hormone. They concluded that, although more data are necessary to determine the best predictors of menopause, levels of anti-Müllerian hormone are linked to age at onset of menopause and other reproductive events. – by Stacey L. Adams

J Clin Endocrinol Metab.2008;doi:10.1210/jc.2007-2093.

In the future, anti-Müllerian hormone may turn out to be a very good predictor of antral follicle count and the number of eggs remaining in an ovary. We are not yet to the point where it is clinically useful, despite the fact that, based on data such as these, it is being used. This is not yet a clinically useful tool, so stay tuned.

– Robert W. Rebar, MD

Executive Director, American Society for Reproductive Medicine