Hormonal fertility tests 'waste of time and money'

Conclusion Anxiety about getting pregnant, especially at older ages, is common, and women may feel pressured into taking so-called fertility "MOT" tests to see whether they've left it too late. But the results of this study strongly suggest that these tests don't predict how easily or quickly a woman will be able to get pregnant. Some women may use the tests to find out whether they can delay pregnancy, and take a result showing a high ovarian reserve to mean that they have plenty of time to get pregnant. But the tests only give a snapshot of ovarian reserve at one point in time – they don't tell you how quickly the levels may change in future. The researchers may be right that other factors, such as egg quality or the quality of a partner's sperm (which also declines with age), are more important – as long as the woman is regularly releasing eggs. The study was well-designed and carried out, but has some limitations. For one, the researchers measured pregnancy rates, not birth rates. It's possible that hormone levels could affect the chances of a woman carrying a baby to term, although there's no research to suggest this is the case. It's also important to remember that these women were all in the first few cycles of trying to get pregnant. The results may not be the same for women with known fertility problems. There's no doubt that women do find it harder to get pregnant as they get older. Women who want to get pregnant and have been unable to do so within si...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Pregnancy/child Source Type: news