An interesting medical development for older moms.

Women are born with an estimated 800,000 eggs but the number dwindles with age. At about 37, when there are about 25,000 eggs left, the decline speeds up and the ovaries shrink until most of the eggs are depleted and menopause occurs.

The age of menopause is generally around 50, plus or minus seven or eight years. Knowing a woman’s reproductive lifespan will enable doctors to predict how long she will be fertile and whether she will have an early menopause.

Dr Thomas Kelsey, a computer expert at the University of St Andrews, said the main benefit of the research will be to improve fertility treatment and planning and to provide doctors with information about the likely success of such treatments.

“The ultrasound measurement is taken to work out the volume of the ovaries. If the ovaries are larger than average for her age, then she is likely to have a later menopause and if they are smaller she is likely to have an earlier one. Essentially we try to quantify by how much, by how many years,” he said in an interview.

Thanks Jim Akin for the link.

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