Women whose mothers had an early menopause had far fewer eggs in their ovaries than those whose mothers had a later menopause, a Danish team found.

 

Women with fewer viable eggs have fewer chances to conceive. 

 

The study, of 527 women aged between 20 and 40, was reported in the journal Human Reproduction.

 

 

Researchers looked at two accepted methods to assess how many eggs the women had - known as their "ovarian reserve" - levels of anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) and antral follicle（囊状卵泡） count (AFC).

 

Women are born with all the eggs they will ever have. These are released from the ovary cyclically, usually one every month after puberty, until menopause. 

 

The AFC and AMH give readings doctors an idea of how many yet-to-be released eggs remain in the ovary.

 

In the study of female healthcare workers, the researchers found both AMH and AFC declined faster in women whose mothers had an early menopause (before the age of 45) compared to women whose mothers had a late menopause (after the age of 55).

 

Average AMH levels declined by 8.6%, 6.8% and 4.2% a year in the groups of women with mothers who had early, normal or late menopauses, respectively. 

 

A similar pattern was seen for AFC, with annual declines of 5.8%, 4.7% and 3.2% in the same groups, respectively.