A simple blood test may predict accurately when a woman would reach the menopause, according to a new study scheduled to be presented at the conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Rome on Monday.

Based on a mathematic model, researchers need only a single blood test to determine the level of a hormone called the anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH) that is produced by cells in women's ovaries and predict the timing of menopause.

The average prediction error is no more than a third of a year and the maximum error for the menopause prediction is 3 to 4 years.

Ramezani Tehrani of the Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Tehran and colleagues based their mathematic model on results of a series of tests on blood samples collected from 266 women aged 20 to 49.

The researchers said although the math model is promising, large studies are needed to confirm the accuracy. 

The method may allow women to predict when it would be too late for them to have a baby.  But Tehrani was cited as saying that women may stop producing eggs several years prior to menopause. So this method does not help determine the ending of the fertility of a woman.

The timing of a woman's menopause is determined by genetics and environmental factors such as diet and body size and weight.

Late menopause, which is associated with early puberty, is known to be a risk factor for breast cancer because women with late menopause are exposed to estrogen for more years than those with early menopause.

The average age of a woman having her last period, menopause is 51. Some have their last period in their forties and some in their fifties, according to the National institute on Aging.

By Jimmy Downs