Tattoos are associated with a deadly type of blood cancer, according to researchers at Lund University in Sweden, who found that tattooed people have a 21 percent higher risk of developing lymphoma compared to people without tattoos.
Young woman tattooed on most of her body. PHOTO Archive
Lymphoma is a type of cancer that affects white blood cells, which are essential in fighting infection. The link is thought to lie in cancer-causing chemicals in tattoo ink. When injected into the skin, it is interpreted as something foreign and the immune system is activated, causing low-grade inflammation in the body that can trigger cancer, according to dailymail.co.uk.
About 46% of Americans between the ages of 30 and 49 have at least one tattoo, while 22% of all age groups, on average, have more than one. Additionally, 15 percent of Americans who don't have a tattoo said they are fairly or extremely likely to get one, according to a Pew Research Center survey.
The researchers identified people with lymphoma between the ages of 20 and 60 using population registries and then matched them with a control group of the same sex and age but without a diagnosis of lymphoma. Participants were then given a questionnaire about lifestyle factors to see if they were tattooed or not.
About 1,400 people with lymphoma answered the questionnaire, as well as 4,193 people in the control group. In the lymphoma group, 21% (289 people) were tattooed, while 18% (735 people) were tattooed in the control group.
“After taking into account other relevant factors such as smoking and age, we found that the risk of developing lymphoma was 21% higher among those who were tattooed“, said Christel Nielsen, the researcher from Lund University who led the study.
The researchers also determined that the size of the tattoo could influence the risk of lymphoma, and believe that a full-body tattoo could be associated with a higher chance of cancer.
The researchers wrote results of their work in the journal eClinicalMedicine.
