Having a tattoo could increase your risk of developing a rare type of cancer by 21%, a new study has found.
Researchers in Sweden have discovered a potential link between tattoos and lymphoma, a type of blood cancer that affects the immune system. The study was conducted by researchers from Lynd University, who investigated the relationship between tattoos and long-term health effects.
Dr. Christel Nielsen, who led the study, emphasized the rarity of lymphoma and noted that the findings apply at the group level. She stated, “The results now need to be verified and investigated further in other studies, and such research is ongoing.”
The researchers examined 11,905 people, out of which 2,938 individuals, aged between 20 and 60 years, had lymphoma. Among these participants, 54% responded to a questionnaire about tattoos, while 47% of the control group without lymphoma did the same. In the lymphoma group, 21% had tattoos (289 people), compared to 18% in the control group without a lymphoma diagnosis (735 people).
After accounting for other factors such as smoking and age, the researchers determined that the risk of developing lymphoma was 21% higher among those who had tattoos. Interestingly, they found that the size of the tattoo did not impact the risk, meaning that having a full-body tattoo did not increase the risk more than a smaller tattoo.
The most common subtypes of cancer identified were diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (28%), Hodgkin lymphoma (21%), and follicular lymphoma (18%). The average age of those diagnosed ranged between 51 and 57 years, with Hodgkin lymphoma patients having an average age of 36.
The researchers are still uncertain about why this link exists. Dr. Nielsen speculated, “One can only speculate that a tattoo, regardless of size, triggers a low-grade inflammation in the body, which in turn can trigger cancer. The picture is thus more complex than we initially thought.” She explained that when tattoo ink is injected into the skin, the body interprets it as a foreign substance, activating the immune system. Much of the ink is then transported from the skin to the lymph nodes, where it is deposited.
The researchers concluded that further investigation is needed to explore any additional associations between tattoos and other types of cancer, as well as to understand the underlying causes of these links.
