Fertility and menopause go hand in hand, and it is a recognized fact that fertility declines in the years just before the menopause, so predicting the age at which menopause is destined to begin is a very helpful thing.

Based on a twelve year Iranian study of 266 women, a novel test which calculates a hormone called anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH) noticed it was probable to determine the age of menopause by determining the levels of AMH.

AMH is manufactured in the cellular material of the ovaries and maintains the formation of follicles in the ovaries from which eggs develop.

The study was undertaken at Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Tehran and was directed by Dr Fahimeh Ramezani Tehrani. In the study, 266 women aged between 20 years and 49 years old were monitored through blood samples and physical examinations at 3 year time intervals over a 12 year period. Researchers then worked out a mathematical model for calculating the age at menopause from AMH levels in the blood. They found that using this procedure, they were able to foresee the age at which women got to menopause to within a mean of four months.

This test can certainly be particularly beneficial for choosing women who could possibly have an early menopause and who could then prepare on having a family consequently.

The menopause test is unable to foresee when women will lose their fertility. Normally this occurs about a decade prior to menopause. Nonetheless, if doctors have knowledge of the time women goes into menopause, they can estimate pretty nearly the moment they will run out of eggs. Experts say the test could be particularly useful in pinpointing women who may go into the menopause early, for example, in their late 40s or earlier as opposed to their mid 50s.

But, one should also understand that there are other criteria that can impact fertility such as the partner's sperm and other medical problems like scarred tubes, so the Menopause test should not be depended on as the only predictor of diminishing fertility.