For many women, the abbreviation "AMH" and numbers after the decimal point sound like a sentence of infertility. Is it really so? Let's delve into it.
Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) is produced in the growing follicles of the ovaries, and its concentration is used to assess the follicular reserve. However, this hormone is produced at a specific point in time when the follicles have reached a certain level of maturity.
A follicle goes through four stages of growth:
Primordial follicles (those you are born with)
Pre-antral
Antral
Pre-ovulatory follicle
Anti-Müllerian hormone is produced during the pre-antral and antral follicle stages, showing how many reproductive cells have reached a certain level of maturity at that moment.
Important note: AMH does not provide information about the entire follicular reserve because it doesn't account for primordial follicles.
More and more recent studies have failed to find a direct link between AMH levels and actual female fertility. With similar AMH values, a woman can be either fertile or infertile (PMID: 26965431, PMID: 30744650, PMID: 27499425, PMID: 33907092).
Results from a cohort study published in January 2023 (Harris BS, et al.) showed that patients with diminished ovarian reserve (AMH <0.7 ng/mL) had the same chances of conceiving as women with normal ovarian reserve.
In another study conducted in Israel (PMID: 24363812), there was no difference in the frequency of pregnancy between women with low and critically low AMH levels (less than 0.2 ng/mL).
Fertility depends on many factors, and optimistic prognosis is not always possible. However, even with rare ovulations, you can determine the favorable time for conception and increase your chances of conceiving naturally.
If you are having difficulty getting pregnant due to low ovarian reserve, we invite you to join the our program "Healthy pregnancy" to find out if you are ovulating and assess your chances of conceiving naturally.
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