Shen Chen-yang, a professor at the IBMS and co-director of the Taiwan Biobank plan, takes breast cancer as an example. Because female hormones stimulate cell growth and the thickening of the endometrium, women who begin menstruating earlier in life, continue menstruating later into life, or have no children, are high-risk groups for breast cancer because of longer exposure to the effects of hormones.
中研院生醫所教授、台灣生物資料庫先導計劃共同主持人沈志陽以乳癌為例指出，女性賀爾蒙會促使細胞增生、子宮內膜增厚，因此，初經早、停經晚又不曾生小孩的女性，因為女性賀爾蒙作用時間較久，理論上屬乳癌的高危險群。