Because of various socioeconomic factors, in industrialized nations, many women now are delaying having children until well into their thirties or even near the age of forty, which is close enough to limit the period of life when a woman is usually fertile. Some of these women who delay childbearing to have lower fertility when trying to have children, but that’s something, at least until now, could not know beforehand.
In a recent survey has discovered several genetic markers that could allow women to know ahead of time the age at which fertility will decline, allowing them to better plan their motherhood.
Testing for the number of eggs maturing in the ovaries and reproductive hormone levels may give good indications on fertility, but women do not normally carry out these tests until they are experiencing difficulty conceiving.
The finding made by the team of researchers Sonya Schuh-Huerta and Renee Reijo Pera, the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, affiliated to Stanford University in California, could lead to the development of a test for genetic markers specific, which would provide vital information to women to make decisions about possible future motherhood and to plan the age at which pregnancy.
To develop a genetic test for fertility, it could also help predict the likelihood of developing other health problems, since the decline of ovarian function is generally associated with an increased incidence of cardiovascular disease and bone mineralization (as osteoporosis), and with a certain increase in the risk of some cancers. And because these genes are present throughout life, the medical staff could make predictions about fertility and other health problems decades in advance.