London, Oct 18 (IANS) A genetic test will help predict how long women in their 20s can delay having children.
Researchers have found a group of genes that are linked to the timing of menopause and the age when they will stop being fertile. The test to cost around 50 pounds will be available within a decade.
‘The ultimate goal is one day be able to predict when someone is going through the menopause,’ said study leader Anna Murray from the University of Exeter Peninsula Medical School in Britain, reports the Telegraph.
‘It is estimated that a woman’s ability to conceive decreases on average 10 years before she starts the menopause.’
‘We should therefore be able to help them make a decision about when they should be looking to have children.’
‘These findings are the first stage in developing an easy and relatively inexpensive genetic test which could help the one in 20 women who may be affected by early menopause.’
On average women hit the menopause around the age of 51, but some experience their last period in their 40s and others in their 60s, according to the journal Human Molecular Genetics.
Tests for menopause looking at hormone levels are available at the moment but they only work two or three years before women go through it.
Researchers are finding more genes that will increase the accuracy even more.
It is believed in most women that genes contribute to about half the risk factors involved with early onset menopause, lifestyle and diet account for the rest.
If the genes indicate a high risk, then women can adjust their lifestyle to counter balance them.
For the study, a total of 2,000 women who had experienced early menopause were compared with a matched number who had not.
