For the first time, researchers from St Andrews University have been able to chart the levels of a vital fertility hormone in women of different ages.
The move could revolutionise family planning by predicting when a woman is likely to start the menopause and may ultimately show how long she can delay having children.
It could also save couples expensive – but ultimately futile – in vitro fertilisation treatments by predicting their chances of successful conception.
Research jointly carried out with scientists from Glasgow and Edinburgh universities compared hormone levels in 3,200 healthy women to show accurately how the range changed with age.
Doctors claim they will be able to use the results as a benchmark against which to measure others, indicating when they are likely to go through the menopause and how long they will remain fertile.
Tom Kelsey, a lecturer in the university’s school of computer science, who helped the research, said it was already known that high levels of the fertility hormone were good for conception “but we could not back that up statistically”.
“This study now provides us with the level you would expect to find in a normal, healthy woman,” he said.
Women are born with a finite supply of eggs – on average between one and two million – which are shed as part of the monthly cycle until menopause.
A woman’s ability to conceive declines substantially after her mid-30s, although the speed differs between individuals.
The latest study examined levels of anti-Mullerian hormones (AMH), which reflect ovarian activity and give an estimate of remaining egg supply.
Richard Anderson, professor of reproductive medicine at Edinburgh University, said: “Predicting how long you might remain fertile can be very important, and it seems that AMH can help in this.”
The news comes just weeks after women were given a stark warning of the risks they face in delaying motherhood.
A paper published in The Obstetrician & Gynaecologist journal said they could be at “substantive risk” of complications such as heart disease and even stillbirth for their babies.
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