Day 3 Hormone Test: Know Your Reproductive Health Score

It is quite interesting to know that at birth, a normal female ovary has about one million oocytes (eggs). This number continues to decline throughout adulthood and reaches a point of extinction as she nears the age of 50, thus driving menopause. ¹ Therefore, female age is an important factor in maintaining the ovarian reserve, i.e. the number of eggs remaining in the ovary for fertilization. 

Many screening tests are now available to estimate your ovarian reserve; among them day 3 fertility test is highly recommended by doctors. But, before understanding what a day 3 test is, let us now get a better idea of which are the day 3 dependent hormones.

Quick Insights Into Female Reproductive Hormones

After a woman hits puberty, the ovaries pass through different stages regarding their ovulatory and hormone-secreting capacity. Thus, puberty in females leads to several hormonal changes and enables the release of mature oocytes (eggs) to make fertilization possible. Let us first learn about the hormones released during ovulation which are crucial for maintaining female fertility.

• Anti-Müllerian hormone- (AMH) is produced by the granulosa cells (small cells found inside ovarian follicles) and can indicate the number of growing follicles (tiny fluid-filled sacs that contain an immature egg) that can ovulate. AMH levels decrease with a woman’s advancing age, which strongly correlates with the remaining early antral follicles (a small sac that contains an immature egg). Another reason for AMH being the popular “ovarian reserve test” is that, AMH levels remain stable during the menstrual cycle in both normal and infertile women. It can thus act as a starting point for infertile couples and also help make decisions on the recommended therapy.^2,3
• Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH)- It is a gonadotropin that helps in follicular growth (ovarian follicle is a small, fluid filled sac in the ovary that contains immature eggs ⁴), estrogen formation and maturation of the oocytes (eggs) into secondary follicles before ovulation.⁵ With age, the follicular pool (a small sac that contains egg) declines, the early follicular FSH is seen to increase due to low estradiol, which stops FSH production.

• Estradiol (E2) is the primary form of estrogen in females during the reproductive years. It is essential for maintaining female fertility. Estradiol helps in the development of ovulatory follicles, facilitating sperm transport by maintaining cervical mucus and preparing the endometrial lining in uterus for conceiving.⁶ 

• Luteinizing Hormone (LH)- It is the hormone that induces ovulation (the release of eggs every month) and controls its length. Luteinizing hormone also helps in the production of estrogen and progesterone. Also, it prepares the uterus for the implantation of fertilized eggs.⁵ 

So if you want to learn more about your reproductive health, your doctor will advise a day 3 hormone test. But, what does that mean? Let us now get a deep insight into it.

What Is Day 3 Hormone Test?

To understand what day 3 hormone test and why it is so stressed upon, we must know what happens during the menstrual cycle. There are some hormones which fluctuate a lot like Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH), Estradiol (E2) and Luteinizing hormone (LH) while there are a few which remain stable and don’t show fluctuations like Anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH). The day-3 hormone test is taken on the third day of the menstrual cycle to measure FSH, E2 and LH and other reproductive hormones as it is the beginning of the follicular phase (time when an egg matures in the ovary) and the best time to get hormones baseline levels.⁷ 

Concentration of AMH remains relatively consistent during the menstrual cycle in young women who ovulate and thus can be tested at any day during the menstrual cycle. However, the AMH level decreases after the intake of contraceptives. Thus, using AMH as a marker of ovarian reserve is better and more sensitive than FSH and estradiol ⁸ to calculate the total number of eggs left in your ovaries that can potentially be fertilized by sperm and result in pregnancy.⁹ Let us now know, how to know the day 3 of the menstrual cycle.

How To Estimate Day 3 Of Menstrual Cycle?

The third day is counted from the first day of menstrual bleeding. For example if a woman experiences full flow before 5:00 pm on Sunday then, it is counted as the first day of the menstrual cycle and Tuesday will be counted as the third day. 

Here’s The Bottom Line

Testing your day 3 hormones is a great tool for getting more insight into your reproductive health. Thus, collecting your sample at the right time (day 3 of your period)  is essential for getting clinically meaningful results. So, LifeCell’s OvaScore kit can come in handy to test your hormones and get in-depth insights into your reproductive health from the comfort of your home. It helps women to get tested for 9 essential reproductive hormones including Anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH), Estradiol, Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH), Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) Luteinizing hormone (LH), Free Thyroxine, Prolactin, Total Testosterone, 17- Hydroxyprogesterone. All you need to do is to order a kit at your home, collect the sample and send it to the LifeCell-certified labs. You will get the results in just a few days on your personalized dashboard. So, if you are planning to get your hormone  test done, start by getting the correct insight into your reproductive health with an OvaScore at-home self collection kit.