The usefulness of ovarian volume, antral follicle count and age as predictors of menopausal status

Abstract

Objective To compare the accuracy of ovarian volume, antral follicle count and age in predicting menopausal status in healthy women.Methods The cross-sectional study was set in the Gynecology Division at the Leonor Mendes de Barros Maternity Hospital, São Paulo, Brazil. The subjects of this study were premenopausal (n = 121) and postmenopausal (n = 71) healthy women aged between 40 and 55 years. They were submitted to a medical interview and transvaginal ultrasound examination. The ovarian volume (cm3), antral follicle count and chronological age were recorded in both groups and the accuracies of these parameters in predicting menopausal status were compared.Results Premenopausal women presented larger ovaries than postmenopausal women (p < 0.01). Premenopausal women had a higher number of antral follicles than postmenopausal women (p < 0.01). The receiver operating characteristic curves showed that ovarian volume, age and antral follicle count had similar sensitivities and specificities in predicting menopausal status. The best cut-off points were observed when ovarian volume was < 4 cm3, age was ⩾ 48 years and antral follicle count was ⩽ two follicles.Conclusions Ovarian volume, antral follicle count and chronological age are all individually predictive of menopausal status, with similar accuracies.