Great Egg-spections

For women who want to have a career and kids there’s a big question – how long can you leave it before knuckling down and popping sprogs? Helen Potter finds about the test that could make the answer that bit more obvious.

Calling all career women and potential career women. Want to maximise your chance of having a baby without leaving it too late? Then a nifty test called Plan Ahead could be for you.

Designed by the company Repromedix, the test claims to measure a woman's ovarian reserve - how many 'good' eggs she has left to conceive with. Rather charmingly, the company's chief medical officer, Dr Benjamin Leader, compares it to checking a petrol gauge to see how much is left in the tank.

The test measures three hormones: follicle stimulating hormone, which triggers egg development; anti-mullerian hormone which is produced by cells around undeveloped eggs and inhibin B, a protein produced by follicles.

None of these tests are new but the clever science bit comes from the algorithm that correlates these with the woman's age and oestrogen level among other factors to produce a score that measures the ovarian reserve.

Fertility experts have greeted the test with scepticism, expressing concerns that this could lead women into a false sense of security about their chances of becoming pregnant. Other issues such as damage to the reproductive tract or declining quality of eggs with age could lead to an inability to conceive. There are also qualms about the anti-mullerian hormone test which has yet to be approved by the FDA.

Repromedix is open that the test cannot tell if a woman is fertile or how fast her supply of eggs will shrink, but suggests that women with low ovarian reserve scores consult their doctors about their options.

So ladies, even if your biological clock is just a faint ticking, if you like to plan ahead then this could be the test for you.

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