Does an elevated FSH level predict a baby with abnormal chromosomes?
The answer to this question is not known for certain. However, there does appear to be some evidence that women with decreased ovarian reserve as measured by an elevated FSH or abnormal clomid challenge test, are at increased risk for having babies with chromosomal abnormalities. One study looked at women with normal FSH levels and compared them to women with elevated levels. Over a six month period, if a woman had a miscarriage, they performed chromosome testing on the fetal tissue. Bottom line: The women with high FSH levels had more fetuses with chromosomal abnormalties. Another study followed over 1000 women with high FSH levels who tried to attempt pregnancy with their own eggs. Only a 28 women even acheived pregnancy and of those, 20 miscarried. This is a much higher miscarriage rate than would have been expected based on the age of these women. Since chromosomal abnormality is the most common cause for miscarriage, it is likely that these women had more fetuses with chromosoaml
