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Women with a low number of eggs are more at risk of having a baby with Down's syndrome, experts said today.
Previous research has shown that the quality of a woman's eggs drops as she gets older, increasing the chance of flawed embryos.
A new study shows younger women with depleted egg "reserves" also face a higher risk of conceiving a child with a chromosome defect.
Researchers say one possible reason is women use their "best" eggs first in their fertile life and leave the abnormal ones until last. The smaller the "pool" of eggs, the greater the chance a woman will conceive using a poor quality egg.
The findings are based on a study of 19,840 Dutch women having fertility treatment by the University Medical Centre Gronigen in the Netherlands.
The risk of having an abnormal - or "trisomic" - baby quadrupled in women who were only able to produce a few eggs during IVF treatment.
A London fertility clinic has developed the first "rapid" embryo test that uncovers gene and chromosome defects such as cystic fibrosis. The London Bridge Fertility Gynaecology and Genetics Centre announced the "karyomapping" test today. It takes 18 to 24 hours compared with existing checks which can take weeks, and is cheaper.
