All women are born with a limited ovarian reserve, which means that over the years the number of eggs decreases. This fact, how could it be otherwise, affects the fertility of women.
If you are therefore planning to be a mother, it is essential to know the ovarian reserve to know the most propitious moment to be a mother. Then we talk to you in a way more detailed of what it means for a woman to know her ovarian reserve.
What is the ovarian reserve?
The ovarian reserve refers to the number of ovules that a woman has at a certain moment in her life. Thanks to the ovarian reserve, a woman's fertility can be calibrated. Therefore, if the ovarian reserve is too low, the woman is not very fertile to become pregnant. Hence the importance of knowing the woman's ovarian reserve and the fact of looking for a baby.
The number of oocytes in women
The fetus from about nine weeks of gestation begins to manufacture eggs and around the sixth month it has millions of oocytes or immature eggs. At the time of birth, the number of oocytes decreases in a remarkable way. As the woman becomes older, these oocytes decrease. During the puberty phase, the oocytes decrease to half a million. And so over the years so fertility also decreases.
The ovarian reserve according to the age of the woman
We must start by saying that although each woman is free to choose the date on which she decides to become a mother, WHO considers that the highest fertility of a woman occurs between 20 and 24 years.
From the age of 27, oocytes begin to decrease considerably and with it the probability of being able to become pregnant. After 35 years of age, the ovarian reserve begins to decrease significantly. At 40 years of age the number of oocytes is much lower and the chances of having a child are very few. The ovarian reserve completely disappears between the ages of 45 and 55 years. So the woman runs out of oocytes in her body.
Causes of a low ovarian reserve
The main factor for a low ovarian reserve is due to age. Apart from this, there are another series of causes that we detail below:
- Being a regular smoker
- Genetic problems
- Drug intake
- Having a disease like endometriosis
- Having some type of tumor
How to know the ovarian reserve of each woman
The age of the woman is a very imprecise way of knowing exactly the ovarian reserve that she has. The normal thing is to go to a fertility specialist to undergo an ultrasound in order to know in a much more precise way the number of eggs that the woman has and with it the chances that exist of being able to become pregnant. Through the ultrasound and a blood test, a series of hormones will be measured, such as: follicle stimulating hormone, inhibin B or estradiol.
Today, The IVI offers women between the ages of 25 and 38 the possibility of undergoing a free test to find out their ovarian reserve. In this way they can plan their pregnancy much better.
As you have seen, the ovarian reserve is much more important than it may seem at first. Knowing this reserve in a precise way can help a woman to know at what age in her life she is most fertile and contains the most oocytes. Remember that the number of oocytes decreases over the years, coming to disappear at a certain age of the woman.