This at-home ‘egg timer’ test is an Aussie first. What does it tell us about fertility?

Last year, Claire Kennett and her husband started trying for a baby. After six months with no success, her GP suggested she take an AMH blood test, which measures the ovarian reserve. Then 30, the secondary school teacher received what her GP called a low result.

Kennett says she spiralled into a depression, thinking she’d have difficulty conceiving or be unable to have kids. Often referred to as the “fertility” or “egg count” test, an AMH test measures the level of the Anti-Mullerian hormone in the blood, which is an indicator of the number of eggs left in the ovaries. Despite its nickname, it is not a marker of fertility and can only measure the quantity, rather than the quality, of eggs.



Claire Kennett thought a low AMH result meant she had fertility issues. She gave birth to a baby girl this year. Credit: Simon Schluter Kennett was referred to a fertility specialist, who reassured her the result was not an indicator of fecundity.

“Without having gone to see her [the fertility specialist], I probably would have just stayed in that really dark place and blamed myself in thinking that everything was my fault,” she says. The night before she and her husband were due to start fertility treatment, Kennett found out they had conceived naturally. They welcomed a baby girl, Wren, this year.

As the age of first-time mothers rises, and with it the use of technology such as IVF, conversations around fertility are changing. On social media, more women interested in their reproductive health are talking about their experiences with the test – both good and bad. Ben Mol leads the evidence-based Women’s Health Care Research Group in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology at Monash University.

He calls the AMH test the “anxiety-making hormone test” and says while it’s great in theory, in practice it’s just not accurate enough yet to play any role in family planning. “The principle is OK, but the test is not good enough to justify its use.” AMH levels can fluctuate throughout the month and be skewed by things such as the contraceptive pill and polycystic ovarian syndrome.

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