How Menstrual Pads Can Provide Women with Insights into Fertility Changes

Innovative home tests integrated into menstrual pads are empowering women to monitor their fertility through menstrual blood. This non-invasive method eliminates the need for frequent blood tests or clinic visits.

For many women, understanding their fertility journey often remains elusive until they attempt to conceive. In case of any complications, clinical tests can offer vital information.

These tests are instrumental in assessing the levels of anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH), a key indicator of “ovarian reserve,” which reflects the quantity of eggs remaining in a woman’s ovaries. In adults, AMH levels naturally decrease with age, indicating that higher levels signify a robust supply of eggs, whereas lower levels may signal reduced reserves or early onset of menopause.

Traditionally, AMH measurement has involved either clinic-based blood tests or at-home finger-prick tests, both requiring lab analysis before results are available.

Recently, Lucas Dosnon from ETH Zurich and his team in Switzerland have created a user-friendly test utilizing menstrual blood for immediate results.

The test functions as a lateral flow assay—similar to a COVID-19 test—utilizing small gold-coated particles with antibodies that selectively bind to AMH. When the test strip is exposed to menstrual blood, the hormonal interactions create a visible line, where the darkness of this line correlates with AMH levels.

While visual assessments can estimate results, researchers have developed a smartphone app that accurately analyzes test strip images. When tested against menstrual blood samples with known AMH concentrations, results aligned closely with clinical evaluations.

Moreover, the research team has seamlessly integrated this test into menstrual pads, enabling passive AMH level monitoring throughout menstruation. Over time, this approach may reveal trends in ovarian reserves that single tests could miss.

“We believe this research could be a game-changer for women’s health,” stated Dosnon, highlighting the potential for regular ovarian health screenings useful for various purposes, including during IVF and for diagnosing conditions outside of reduced ovarian reserve. Elevated AMH levels, for instance, can indicate polycystic ovarian syndrome and, in rare cases, granulosa cell tumors affecting the ovaries. “Menstrual blood is an underutilized resource with great potential in monitoring overall health,” Dosnon added.

Richard Anderson from the University of Edinburgh emphasizes the interpretation challenges all family medicine tests face, noting that understanding results can be complex, as no AMH test assesses egg quality. He questions whether women will prefer this test over traditional methods: “Is obtaining a reliable blood test that much of a burden?”

In response, Dosnon clarified that the test isn’t designed to replace clinical evaluations but rather offers an alternative that addresses the challenges in women’s health monitoring and research, praised for its non-invasive nature, user-friendliness, and affordability.