Anti-Müllerian hormone and inhibin B levels as markers of premature ovarian aging and transition to menopause in type 1 diabetes mellitus

Abstract

BACKGROUNDSerum anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) levels decrease early during the transition to menopause and women with type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM1) experience menopause at a younger age. We hypothesized that older women with DM1 will have lower AMH levels than controls.METHODSWe studied ovarian function in women with DM1 (n = 66) and healthy controls (n = 58), all <45 years old. Steroids, gonadotrophins, AMH and inhibin B levels were measured during the follicular phase.RESULTSPiece-wise regression analysis demonstrated that AMH levels begin to decrease at 33 years of age in both groups. This age limit was used to compare data in both groups. AMH levels were lower in DM1 women than in controls >33 years (4.1 ± 4.2 versus 9.5 ± 7.9 pmol/l, mean ± SD, P = 0.006). A higher proportion of women with DM1 showed AMH levels in the menopausal range compared with controls (16.7 versus 3.4, respectively, P = 0.02). For all patients, those with DM1 exhibited lower inhibin B levels than controls (8