Anti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH) Levels

Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) is produced in the ovaries. It’s important in the development of reproductive organs. It is a marker of ovarian reserve (the number of eggs a woman has left in her ovaries), which helps show a woman’s fertility potential.

Blood levels of AMH peak around age 20-25, then decline as a woman gets closer to menopause [25]. After menopause, AMH is no longer detectable [25].

Premenopausal women with higher blood levels of AMH may have a higher risk of breast cancer compared to women of the same age who have lower levels of AMH [25-28].

Why might AMH blood levels be related to breast cancer risk?

Higher AMH levels may reflect some reproductive events. For example, premenopausal women with higher blood levels of AMH at a given age are more likely to have a later age at menopause than those with lower AMH levels [29].

Having a later age at menopause is linked to an increased risk of breast cancer [9,14,19]. This increased risk is likely due, at least in part, to the amount of estrogen a woman is exposed to in her life. A higher lifetime exposure to estrogen is related to an increased breast cancer risk [18].

Updated 03/07/22