(NewsNation) — People with tattoos may face a higher cancer risk than those without permanent body art, according to researchers.
A study published in eClinicalMedicine of people in Sweden examined the long-term health effects of tattoos, focusing on the link between tattoos and lymphoma, a type of blood cancer that affects the lymphatic system.
“The study suggests that tattoos may be a risk factor for malignant lymphoma that is actionable from a public health perspective,” researchers said.
The likelihood of having a tattoo in the U.S. continues to grow with “cybersigilism” emerging as one of the newer trends in tattooing. It comes as 32% of adults have a tattoo, including 22% who have more than one, a Pew Research Center poll found.
How did researchers link tattoos and cancer?
Researchers analyzed cases of 1,398 participants diagnosed with malignant lymphoma and 4,193 participants without lymphoma diagnoses, ages 20 to 60.
They used data from the Swedish National Cancer Register to identify the cases of malignant lymphoma diagnosed between 2007 and 2017. Then, they compared the data to answers from a lifestyle questionnaire all participants completed about tattoos in 2021.
In the lymphoma group, 21% had tattoos compared to 18% without a lymphoma diagnosis.
Researchers found lymphoma was highest in people who had gotten a tattoo less than two years before the diagnosis. That risk decreased until 11 years between tattooing and diagnoses when it rose again.
Does tattoo size affect cancer risk?
Researchers found no evidence of an increased risk of cancer with a larger area of the total tattooed body surface, despite this correlating, in theory, to the amount of ink used.
“We do not yet know why this was the case. 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,” Christel Nielsen, lead author and researcher from Lund University, said in a statement.
Nielen’s research group will now proceed with studies of whether there is any association between tattoos and other types of cancer. They also want to do further research on other inflammatory diseases to see if there is a link to tattoos.
How are doctors reacting to the study?
Dr. Wael Harb, a hematologist and oncologist at MemorialCare Cancer Institute, told Prevention that more research is needed to establish a definitive link between tattoos and lymphoma risk.
He noted that tattoos were a risk factor for lymphoma, but lifestyle factors associated with tattooed people could also contribute. He also noted that the study did not consider the impact of different inks, colors, or the number of tattoos on lymphoma risk but did adjust for lifestyle factors like smoking.
Meanwhile, Dr. Marc Hoffmann of the University of Kansas Cancer Center noted to Health that future studies should research the long-term effects of tattoo inks, including the potential carcinogenic effects of specific chemicals found in tattoo inks.
For example, he highlighted that the links between cancer and smoking or nuclear radiation exposure “are dramatic and undeniable.” However, the clear connection has not been established for tattoos, he said.
Dr. Catherine Diefenbach of NYU Langone expressed skepticism to Health about the study’s conclusions, noting inconsistencies and the absence of a clear association between tattoo size and cancer risk.
“The other thing that doesn’t make sense is if this is a toxin that gets put into the body through ink, there isn’t an association between the size of the tattoo and cancer risk,” she said.