Blood test can predict menopause precisely

A BLOOD test that tells women if they are about to go through the menopause has been developed by scientists.

Researchers at the University of Colorado found measuring levels of antimüllerian hormone (AMH) can predict when a final period will occur.

AMH is crucial in the development of a baby and serves as an indicator of how many eggs a woman has remaining, so it diminishes as the menopause approaches. Women are born with a lifetime’s supply of eggs but the number lessens with age, and when they finally run out, the menopause occurs.

Currently, there are only inaccurate ways to spot if menopause is approaching, such as erratic periods, sleep problems, mood swings and night sweats.

Prof Nanette Santoro, one of the lead authors of the research, said: “Establishing a way to measure time to the final menstrual period has long been the holy grail of menopause research. Using bleeding patterns or previously available tests to predict the time to menopause can only help us narrow the window to a four-year period, which is not clinically useful.

“Women can make better medical decisions with the more complete information offered by new, more sensitive anti-müllerian hormone measurements.”

Researchers analysed blood tests

conducted on 1,537 women between the ages of 42 and 63.

Samples were tested for AMH levels and scientists found it was possible to predict if a woman would have her final period within 12 to 24 months.

It could help women know when it is safe to stop using birth control, and may help some women avoid a hysterectomy if they suffer from painful periods.

AMH fertility tests are already available in clinics throughout the United States to find out how many eggs a woman has left, but until now it was not known if the procedure could accurately predict the onset of the menopause because the hormone levels plummet in a woman’s 40s and 50s.

Dr Joel Finkelstein, a lead author of the study, from the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, said: “Researchers have long thought AMH would be a superior marker of the time to menopause, but tests haven’t been sensitive enough to detect the very, very low levels that occur in the year or two leading up to menopause.

“It took a cohort which followed the same women year after year from well before menopause until well after, to get the kind of data necessary to be able to demonstrate the predictive value of AMH.”

The hormone is a peptide produced by cells which surround a woman’s eggs, so is a good marker of how many are left.

The research is published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.