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Women who have not given birth are more prone to have breast cancer, a specialist from the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) said on Wednesday, April 19. PGH Cancer Institute Chairman Dr. Jorge Ignacio said that this has something to do with “estrogen stimulation.” “Yung menstruation niyo, it is a play of hormones: estrogen tataas medyo nafe-feel niyo nagmamaga ang breast niyo before the menstruation tapos pag pabagsak ang  menstruation— tapos progesterone naman ang tataas. Doon biglang lalabas na yung menstruation niyo (Your menstruation, it is a play of hormones: [the level of] estrogen increases and this can cause your breast to feel sore before menstruation, then the [level of] progesterone will increase afterwards. Then you will have your menstruation),” he said during the Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum. “So, kapag hindi nagbuntis ang babae, hindi nabre-break yung estrogen stimulation, kasi pagkabuntis ka na, progesterone na yung mas mataas—so medyo protective yung part na iyon lalo na rin pag nag breastfeed (So, when a woman doesn't get pregnant, the estrogen stimulation doesn't break. Because once you're pregnant, progesterone is higher—so that part is quite protective, most especially when they breastfeed),” he added. “Medyo mahirap naman pilitin na magbuntis kayo o mag breastfeed kayo kahit wala kayong asawa, pero ayun talaga yung nagbre-break ng cycle ng (It is hard to force you to get pregnant or breastfeed if you don’t have a spouse, but that’s what breaks the cycle of) estrogen stimulation which make it vulnerable para sa (for) breast cancer,” he furthered. Also, women who experience late menopause are -at higher risk for breast cancer, said Ignacio. “Mas maganda pa nga yung early age na menopause kesa yung late menopause. Yung maagang nagkaroon ng menstruation at late nagme-menopause, ayun ang merong candidate risk for breast cancer. Advantage pa iyon kasi natigil na yung estrogen stimulation (Early menopause is much better than late menopause. Those who have menstruation early and go through menopause late, those are candidates for breast cancer risk. That's another advantage because the estrogen stimulation has stopped),” he said. “You are like two to three times more prone to have breast cancer than the general population--yung hindi nag memenopause agad (those who did not go through menopause at an early time),” he added. According to Healthline.com, early menopause “usually refers to onset before age 45.”  On the other hand, late menopause refers to age 55 and older. Nonetheless, all women are at risk of developing breast cancer, said Philippine Foundation for Breast Care (Kasuso) Trustee Aileen Antolin. “Kaya hindi namin ginagamit sa Kasuso yung term na breast cancer prevention kasi (That is why we do not use the term breast cancer prevention in Kasuso because) there is no way that you can prevent breast cancer. Kasi number one factor babae ka (The number one factor is that you are a female)  and you have estrogen. So that puts you at risk for breast cancer,” said Antolin. “Lagi kong sinasabi (I always say)—the same hormone that gives us our female characteristic, is the culprit that puts us at risk for breast cancer. For that reason alone, kailangan maging aware at mas (we need to be aware and more) vigilant in terms of looking into our breast health,” she added.