Validation of the power model of ovarian nongrowing follicle depletion associated with aging in women

Objective: To validate recently proposed models of ovarian nongrowing follicle (NGF) decay associated with aging within the context of an independent data set.

Design: Prospective investigation.

Setting: Academic medical center.

Patient(s): Normal appearing ovaries collected from 52 women (age 28-51 years) undergoing oophorectomy for benign gynecologic indications.

Intervention(s): Determining ovarian NGF counts with systematic random sampling rules and a validated fractionator/optical disector technique. The goodness-of-fit of predicted NGF counts based on the power and double Gaussian models and those observed in the validation set was assessed with the calculation of the Akaike information criterion and R(2) values.

Main outcome measure(s): The goodness-of-fit between observed and expected ovarian NGF counts.

Result(s): The power model was an excellent fit to the observed data. The average difference between the observed and expected NGF count was 0.161 (95% CI, -0.058, 0.327). In the present study population, the power model was a superior fit to the observed data compared with the double Gaussian model.

Conclusion(s): This prospective investigation with an independent set of ovarian NGF counts validates the power model as an excellent characterization of the ovarian NGF decline associated with aging.